What works in safety. The use and perceived effectiveness of 48 safety interventions

In the Netherlands, approximately 2.300 workers have a serious reportable accident at work every year, of which around 60 are fatal (Inspectie SZW, 2020; Bellamy et al., 2014). Safety practitioners employ many methods to improve occupational safety for workers within their companies. Interventions might, for example, be aimed at improving...

Application of modern software engineering principles for continuous quality (CQ) management in research

Transparency of changes, automated testing of new developments against documented criteria, combination of developments from different sources and automated publication of validated results are key aspects of modern collaborative software engineering. Various infrastructures, guidelines and tools are available for continuous integration (CI) and...

An extended protocol for usability validation of medical devices: Research design and reference model

This paper proposes and demonstrates an extended protocol for usability validation testing of medical devices. A review of currently used methods for the usability evaluation of medical devices revealed two main shortcomings. Firstly, the lack of methods to closely trace the interaction sequences and derive performance measures. Secondly, a...

Assessment methodologies for forward looking integrated pedestrian systems and further extension to cyclist safety: Experimental and virtual testing for pedestrian protection

Pedestrians and cyclists are the most unprotected road users and their injury risk in case of accidents is significantly higher than for other road users. The understanding of the influence and sensitivity between important variables describing a pedestrian crash is key for the development of more efficient and reliable safety systems. This...

Relating structural loading rate to tensing rate for fracture mechanics specimens

It is vely well-known that fracture toughness depends on loading rate. Higher strain rates can shift the ductile to brittle transition curve to higher temperatures, resulting in a more brittle structure at the same temperature. However, there is little effort to relate the testing rate to the loading rate within the offshore and maritime...

With how many users should you test a medical infusion pump? Sampling strategies for usability tests on high-risk systems

Usability testing is recognized as an effective means to improve the usability of medical devices and prevent harm for patients and users. Effectiveness of problem discovery in usability testing strongly depends on size and representativeness of the sample. We introduce the late control strategy, which is to continuously monitor effectiveness of...

Nanotechnologies, engineered nanomaterials and occupational health and safety - A review

The significance of engineered nanomaterials (ENM) and nanotechnologies grows rapidly. Nanotechnology applications may have a positive marked impact on many aspects of on human every day life, for example by providing means for the production of clean energy and pure drinking water. Hundreds of consumer nano-based products are already on the...

Nonclinical testing of vaccines: Report from a workshop

Vaccine research and development is a heterogeneous and intensely active area, encompassing the development of many different kinds of novel preventive and therapeutic vaccines (eg, against infectious, allergic, and autoimmune diseases, cancer, etc). Included in this is the development of different types of vaccines (eg, DNA vaccines, novel...

Towards nondestructive testing of pre-crash systems in a HIL setup

Recently, the developments in the field of ADA systems shifted from comfort oriented systems to safety oriented systems. Consequently, the complexity of testing those systems increased. This leads to a demand for reproducible, efficient and safe testing methods for ADA systems in general, and pre-crash systems in particular. A method for pre...

Active and intelligent food packaging: Legal aspects and safety concerns

'Active and intelligent' (A&I) food packaging is based on a deliberate interaction of the packaging with the food and/or its direct environment. This article presents: (i) the main types of materials developed for food contact; (ii) the global market and the future trends of active and intelligent packaging with a special emphasis on safety...

Validation of a finite element human model for prediction of rib fractures

In the past, several crash test dummies were developed in order to measure forces acting on the human body during different loading conditions. However, they are limited in their biofidelity and their application type (frontal, lateral etc.). Recently, several numerical human models were developed. Their main advantage in comparison with dummies...

A runtime framework for system safety

With the increasing complerity of in-vehicle systems and the new generation of communication based (mission critical) applications the sue of the state space increases with unmanageable pace. Even when all design-time procedures to guarantee safety are followed adequotely, in run-time there irrevocable.remain unforeseen and untested system...

Occupant safety design approaches using physical testing and numerical simulation.

The vehicle design environment from a crashworthiness and safety perspective has become increasingly complex in recent years. New legal requirements imposed by the European Union (EU) and the United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have created a design space of great complexity with many parameters that must be...

Simulation of a vehicle with an ICE, CVT and ISG powertrain: A pre-study for concept evaluation and dimensioning

Up to now, reduction of fuel consumption of vehicles equipped with CVT transmission has not been exploited to its full potential due to the reduced driveability when driving the optimum efficiency engine operating points. An ISG system with torque boost capabilities can be used to restore this driveability. This paper discusses the goals, the...