• Journal of Construction Engineering and Project Management
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.1-7
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• 2016

Construction in the UK is the second most dangerous industry in terms of fatal and minor injuries according to the 2014 report of HSE. The use of mobile devices such as iPad, Tablets and Smart phones on the live construction projects is also on the increase in the UK due to the 2016 - Level 2 BIM (Building Information Modelling) implementation target, set by the UK Government. Hence, the use of such devices may become a distraction from work activities on the construction sites and will cause a major risk to the end users. The subject of improving safety of BIM use is widely researched, but there is a gap in knowledge about the actual use of the mobile devices and perception of 'Site BIM', on the construction site activities. The main gap identified in the 'Site BIM' is the health and safety aspect of using such devices on the construction sites. A safer way of working with such devices needs to be identified to avoid any potential site hazards and fatalities before the widespread use of the devices are found on the construction projects. In that context, the paper is aimed to highlight the safety issues that are required to address for the successful implementation of the mobile devices for safer use of the 'Site BIM'. Questionnaire survey was used to collect the site information among construction professionals in the UK. The survey findings suggested that a proactive approach may be helpful to stop potential hazards and risks causing by the use of mobile devices and potential measures need to be identified before any injuries and incidents occur. The paper concludes that training, changing size of mobile devices and ensuring a separate induction training for 'Site BIM' tools will improve the health and safety of the end users of the mobile devices at the live construction sites.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.259-267
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• 2016

The study performs a risk analysis on container ship accidents using accident data collected over the six years from 2006 to 2011, presents the resulting risk level, and suggests three risk mitigation measures to reduce the overall risk, for the safer operation of container ships. More specifically, starting from the initial accident of collision, we developed 13 different accident scenarios using event tree analysis based on which the overall risk level was obtained and presented as a FN curve. Since diverse human factors are the main cause of most of the ship accidents, our study focuses on the effect of reducing human causes on the resulting risk level. For the research we considered the injuries for the calculation of fatality with the help of MAIS. The results show that collision was the main type of accident, accounting for 62 % of all accidents, and the measures employed were proven to be effective in the sense that the risk level was much lowered and the average number of fatalities was also reduced. With more data accumulated, more precise risk level will be calculated with which the practical risk mitigating measures will be also developed. For future study, economic loss and environmental damage as consequences need to be considered.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.199-211
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• 2004

As the length of local tunnels is getting longer, the demand for tunnel safety attracts more attention. But only a few information can be found concerning traffic and fire accidents occurred in local tunnel, and full-fledged studies had not been carried out to fulfill the expectation of the tunnel users. This study aims at collecting and analyzing the data on traffic and fire accidents in local road tunnels and providing the fundamental data for the tunnel fire safety evaluation. Focus is placed on quantifying the relationship among traffic accidents, fire occurrences and tunnel characteristics.

• International Journal of Automotive Technology
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.555-564
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• 2006

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the efficient design of traffic light poles involved in vehicle frontal collisions by developing a computer-based, finite-element model capable of capturing the impact characteristics. This is achieved by using the available non-linear dynamic analysis software "LS-DYNA3D", which can accurately predict the dynamic response of both the vehicle and the traffic light pole. The fiber reinforced polymer(FRP) as a new pole's material is proposed in this paper to increase energy absorption capabilities in the case of a traffic pole involved in a vehicle head-on collision. Numerical analyses are conducted to evaluate the effects of key parameters on the response of the pole embedded in soil when impacted by vehicles, including: soil type(clay and sand) and pole material type(FRP and steel). It is demonstrated from the numerical analysis that the FRP pole-soil system has favorable advantages over steel poles, where the FRP pole absorbed vehicle impact energy in a smoother behavior, which leads to smoother acceleration pulse and less deformation of the vehicle than those encountered with steel poles. Also, it was observed that clayey soil brings a slightly more resistance than sandy soil which helps reducing pole movement at ground level. Finally, FRP pole system provides more energy absorbing leading to protection during minor impacts and under service loading, and remain flexible enough to avoid influencing vehicle occupants, thus reducing fatalities and injuries resulting from the crash.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.437-447
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• 2018

Computational cost is one of the major obstacles for detailed risk analysis of structures. This paper puts forward a methodology for efficient probabilistic seismic loss assessment of structures using the Endurance Time (ET) analysis and the first-order reliability method (FORM). The ET analysis efficiently yields the structural responses for a continuous range of intensities through a single response-history analysis. Taking advantage of this property of ET, FORM is employed to estimate the annual rate of exceedance for the loss components. The proposed approach is an amalgamation of two analysis approaches, ET and FORM, that significantly lower the computational costs. This makes it possible to evaluate the seismic risk of complex systems. The probability distribution of losses due to the structural and non-structural damage as well as injuries and fatalities of a prototype structure are estimated using the proposed methodology. This methodology is an alternative to the prevalent risk analysis framework of the total probability theorem. Hence, the risk estimates of the proposed approach are compared with those from the total probability theorem as a benchmark. The results indicate a satisfactory agreement between the two methods while a significantly lower computational demand for the proposed approach.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.39-46
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• 2015

PURPOSES: The operational characteristics of roundabouts are generally influenced by location as well as traffic volume. The goal of this study is to develop urban and rural roundabout accident models and to discuss safety improvement guidelines based on the model. METHODS : To analyze accidents, count data models are utilized in this study. This study used accident data from 2010 to 2013 for 56 roundabouts collected from the Traffic Accident Analysis System (TASS) of Road Traffic Authority. Poisson and negative binomial regression models were developed for this study using NLOGIT 4.0. RESULTS : The main results are as follows. First, the hypotheses that there are distributional differences in the number of accidents and injuries/fatalities among rural and urban roundabouts were accepted. Second, Poisson and negative binomial regression accident models, which were all statistically significant, were developed. Seven independent variables, which were statistically significant, were adopted. Third, the common variable of models was evaluated to be traffic volume. CONCLUSIONS : This study developed two negative binomial roundabout accident models and suggested some accident reduction strategies. The results are expected to give some implications to the safety improvement of roundabout.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.93-99
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• 2020

A majority of car crash is affected by careless driving that causes extensive economic and social costs, as well as injuries and fatalities. Thus, the research of precise crash detection systems is very significant issues in automotive safety. A lot of crash detection algorithms have been developed, but the coverage of these algorithms has been limited to few scenarios. Road scenes and situations need to be considered in order to expand the scope of a collision detection system to include a variety of collision modes. The proposed algorithm effectively handles the x, y, and z axes of the sensor, while considering time and suggests a method suitable for various real worlds. To reduce nuisance and false crash detection events, the algorithm discriminated between driving mode and parking mode. The performance of the suggested algorithm was evaluated under various scenarios, and it successfully discriminated between driving and parking modes, and it adjusted crash detection events depending on the real scenario. The proposed algorithm is expected to efficiently manage the space and lifespan of the storage device by allowing the vehicle's black box system to store only necessary crash event's videos.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.763-774
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• 2012

Reinforced concrete frame structures with masonry infill walls constitute the significant portion of the building stock in Turkey. Therefore it is very important to understand the behavior of masonry infill frame structures under earthquake loads. This study presents an experimental work performed on reinforced concrete (RC) frames with different types of masonry infills, namely standard and locked bricks. Earthquake effects are induced on the RC frames by quasi-static tests. Results obtained from different frames are compared with each other through various stiffness, strength, and energy related parameters. It is shown that locked bricks may prove useful in decreasing the problems related to horizontal and vertical irregularities defined in building codes. Moreover tests show that locked brick infills maintain their integrity up to very high drift levels, showing that they may have a potential in reducing injuries and fatalities related to falling hazards during severe ground shakings.

• International Journal of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.85-96
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• 2023

The number of traffic accidents caused by wet or icy road surface conditions is on the rise every year. Car crashes in such bad road conditions can increase fatalities and serious injuries. Historical data (from the year 2016 to the year 2020) on weather-related traffic accidents show that the fatality rates are fairly high in Korea. This requires accurate prediction and identification of hazardous road conditions. In this study, a forecasting model is developed to predict the chances of traffic accidents that can occur on roads affected by weather and road surface conditions. Multiple deep learning algorithms taking into account AlexNet and 2D-CNN are employed. Data on orthophoto images, automatic weather systems, automated synoptic observing systems, and road surfaces are used for training and testing purposes. The orthophotos images are pre-processed before using them as input data for the modeling process. The procedure involves image segmentation techniques as well as the Z-Curve index. Results indicate that there is an acceptable performance of prediction such as 65% for dry, 46% for moist, and 33% for wet road conditions. The overall accuracy of the model is 53%. The findings of the study may contribute to developing comprehensive measures for enhancing road safety.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2022.06a
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• pp.508-515
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• 2022

Construction safety education will continue to attract the interests of construction educators, researchers, and industry professionals due to its immense influence on accident reduction and prevention. A well-educated workforce with a thorough understanding of safety requirements and procedures is needed to develop and apply effective safety and health programs as well as devise strategic means of preventing injuries, illnesses, and fatalities on construction projects. The objective of this research is to evaluate construction safety education in the curriculum of construction programs in the United States. An analysis of construction safety courses across accredited construction programs in the U.S. is conducted to synthesize important details and common themes. A nationwide characterization of the safety courses presented followed by an assessment selected a few programs as a pilot study. Critical elements of the courses such as course titles, course year, credit hours, topics covered, and alignment with professional certification or outreach training courses are characterized. Findings from the study reveal the similarities and variations that exist among safety courses taught in different construction programs in the U.S. These findings could result from several influencing factors, which could be the subject of further investigations geared toward improving safety education in construction programs.