Design for worker safety: an expert systems a

摘要

Abstract: Hazardous waste remediation often requires the application of new technologies. In recent years, these technologies have undergone rapid development. Intensely scrutinized in terms of design, new technologies surprisingly receive little attention when assessing the hazards they might pose to worker health and safety. A readily available and user friendly safety and health assessment tool for design evaluation can help assure the safety for operators and the public. This concept involves obtaining data for defining a technology, identifying and defining the elements and the hazards associated with these technology elements in terms of sources and types, evaluating the process to identify potential for human errors, building queries to suggest for removing or controlling the hazards, evaluating the interaction of technology elements, and finally, providing a summary of the hazards identified and suggested corrective measures. Thus far, the system was prototyped to a small existing technology of very limited scope. It showed that design-for-safety can indeed be possible using computer systems that are linked to the Internet. The system was researched for its robustness, design integrity, and the advantage of using expert systems for `What-If' scenarios.!12