Description:
The Corangamite region covers an area of approximately 13,340 km2 and is located in south western Victoria, Australia. The population of approximately 400,000 persons is growing at 5.2% per year, and is served by nine municipalities within the region. The region's diverse range of landscapes and climatic conditions, result in a variety of geological hazards including landslides, soil erosion of all forms, coastal erosion, dryland salinity, potential acid sulphate soils, reactive soils and ground subsidence. These geohazards are increasingly recognised as a constraint on future urban development and a threat to the economic, social and environmental health of the region. Evaluation of the impacts of geological hazards by State government authorities, research institutions and consultants has been inconsistent, both in hazard identification and risk assessment methods. As a result, municipal planning authorities have lacked a consistent framework with which to assess the potential impacts from these hazards and those associated with new developments which may interact with the hazards. The use of risk assessment techniques for the management of landslides in Australia advanced significantly after the publication of the Australian Geomechanics Society's landslide risk management concepts and guidelines in 2000. These guidelines in turn were based on the Australian/New Zealand Standard on Risk Management. Similar risk management techniques have now been developed by the authors for the assessment of soil erosion and salinity for particular use by municipalities within the Corangamite region. A brief review of the nature and extent of landslides, salinity and erosion in the Corangamite region is detailed. The adopted methods of the risk management for each geohazard are described including a comparison of their applicability and an assessment of limitations with each method.
Description:
For risk analysis of reclaimed water, current animal and toxicity testing may not detect subtle effects such as interactions that could contribute to complex diseases such as cancers that develop over a long period of time. There is a need for assays that can be validated against known human physiological processes. We have previously validated sensitive human cell culture assays for their responsiveness to agents that induce carcinogenesis in vivo. In this initial study we analysed the effects of three batches of reclaimed water on human colonic cells. At concentrations of up to 10-fold, they had no significant effect on the cellular markers, indicating an overall lack of biological activity. The assay has potential but needs to be refined to maximise its sensitivity.
Description:
Introduction: In Australia, the National League competition (Commonwealth BankTrophy (CBT)) provided an opportunity to gain an understanding of injuries sustained at the elite level. The purpose of this review therefore is to examine the injury incidence in the CBT competition (2003–2005) and considerations for future injury prevention strategies. Methods: All players in the CBT competition are included in the injury data surveillance scheme. Each team physiotherapist is responsible for assessing, treating and recording injuries within the team. An injury is defined as any netball related physical damage that caused the athlete to miss or modify one or more training sessions, matches or both, and/or required a consultation with a health professional. Results and discussion: The exposure to risk has been estimated from the data supplied for CBT games only to be 71.4, 61.8 and 66.7 injuries per 1000 participations for 2003–2005 respectively. Game injuries account for the majority of injuries with the ankle remaining the most common site of injury across the 3-year period, despite the fact that the majority of players wear ankle tape. The knee was the second highest recorded site of injury for 2004 (14.9%) and 2005 (14%). The majority of injuries are new injuries with three most common mechanisms of injury being collision with a player, landing and overuse injury. Ongoing injury prevention strategies are warranted to reduce injuries resulting from a non-contact mechanism. In addition, training exposure is required to accurately assess the overall risk of injury in netball.
Description:
Introduction: Neuromuscular control during high-risk sports tasks is viewed as a primary risk factor in ACL injury. Attention has also been given to the role of the hip as a possible explanation contributing to ACL injury rates. Typically neuromuscular predictors of ACL injury have arisen from lab-based assessments; however it is possible that this approach excludes important components of actual game-play that may contribute directly to injury risk. The current study therefore, examined muscle recruitment patterns (MRP) during game-play and lab-based conditions that included hip musculature, to consider strategies for lower limb control. Methods: Nine female subjects had EMG data recorded continuously during a netball game. At a subsequent session, in the lab, EMG data was also recorded for three landing conditions. Bilateral EMG was collected via telemetry for rectus femoris, biceps femoris, medial hamstring and gluteus medius. Muscle onset relative to initial contact and the subsequent pattern/s of onset for each land, for each subject, were examined. Results and discussion: Results indicate that the average number of MRP across subjects was 3.6 and 5.8 for the game-play and the lab-based conditions, respectively. When muscles crossing the knee joint were examined only, results revealed that the average number of MRP across subjects was 2.1 and 2.4 for the game-play and the lab-based conditions, respectively. Differences exist when comparing game-play and lab-based measures and the role of the hip musculature in affecting lower limb control warrants ongoing investigation in relation to ACL injury risk.
Description:
Introduction: Certain ground conditions, including hardness, have been associated with an increased injury risk. Many sporting grounds have been deemed unplayable based on hardness measures and subsequently closed. However, most research linking injury to ground conditions has been based on subjective observations or focussed at high performance venues. The aim of this study was to identify the relationship between ground hardness and injury incidence in community level Australian football. Methodology: Measurements of ground hardness, using the Clegg hammer, were recorded on eight community level football grounds between 4 and 8 times during the 2007 season. Injury data was collected by trained data collectors over the season. The 1st Clegg hammer drop was used as the hardness measure, and injuries were ranked as ‘likely’, ‘possibly’, and ‘unlikely’ to be related to grounds by three independent assessors. Results: 130 injuries were recorded at the grounds tested. The Clegg hammer measures ranged from 55 to 134 gravities (g), with four injuries sustained at readings over 120 × g. Of the 130 injuries, 12 were classified as ‘likely’ to be related to ground conditions, 29 ‘possibly’ related, 75 ‘unlikely’ and 14 unknown due to incomplete details. None of the ‘likely’ injuries were sustained on readings over 120 × g. No significant relationships were found between ground hardness and any injury profiles (0.02 < r < 0.14, p < 0.01). Conclusions: Presently, sporting grounds are being closed with hardness readings exceeding 120 × g. The results of this study provide some evidence to challenge this, however, due to low injury rates further research with a larger cohort is necessary.
Description:
The purpose of this paper is to propose a modified version of Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) to alleviate its drawbacks. FMEA is an important tool in risk evaluation and finding the priority of potential failure modes for corrective actions. In the proposed method, the Universal Generating Function (UGF) approach has been used to improve the assessment capability of the conventional Risk Priority Number (RPN) in ranking. The new method is named as URPN. It generates the most number of unique values in comparison with the previous methods and considers relative importance for the parameters while it is easy to compute. More unique numbers help to avoid from having the same priority level for different failure modes which represent various risk levels. A case study has been employed to demonstrate that the URPN not only can improve the shortcomings but also is able to provide accurate values for risk assessment. Copyright (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Description:
Objective: To model the population level impact of tai-chi on future rates of falls and fall-related injury in older people as a tool for policy development. Design: An epidemiological and economic model for estimating population-level effectiveness of tai-chi. Setting: Australia, 2009. Patients or subjects: Australian community-dwelling population aged 70+ years, ambulatory and without debilitating conditions or profound visual defects. Intervention: Group-based tai-chi, for 1 h twice weekly for 26 weeks, assuming no sustained effect beyond the intervention period. Main outcome measure: Total falls and fall-related hospitalisation prevented in 2009. Results: Population-wide tai-chi delivery would prevent an estimated 5440 falls and 109 fall-related hospitalisations, resulting in a 0.18% reduction in the fall related hospital admission rate for community-dwelling older people. The gross costs per fall and per fall-related hospital admission prevented were $ A4414 ((sic)3013) and $A220 712 ((sic)150 684), respectively. A total investment of $A24.01 million ((sic)16.39 million), equivalent to 4.2% of the cost of fall-related episodes of hospital care in 2003/4, would be required to provide tai-chi for 31 998 people and achieve this effect. Conclusions: Substantial investment in, and high population uptake of, tai-chi would be required to have a large effect on falls and fall-related hospitalisation rates. Although not accounted for in this study, investment in tai-chi is likely to be associated with additional significant health benefits beyond falls prevention. This approach could be applied to other interventions to assist selection of the most cost effective falls-prevention portfolio for Australia and other countries.
Description:
Safety culture has risen to prominence over the past two decades as a means by which organisations may enhance their safety performance. Safety culture may be conceptualised as an interpretive device that mediates between organisational safety rhetoric and safety programs on the one hand, and local workplace cultures on the other. More recently, risk-awareness has emerged as a cultural approach to safety. Front line workers are encouraged to become risk-aware through programs designed to prompt them to undertake mental or informal risk assessments before commencing work. The problem is that risk-awareness programs have not been the subject of systematic research and the impact of these programs on the culture of safety and the resultant level of risk is unknown. Therefore, this ethnographic study of two sites within a large contract maintenance organisation in Australia explored what impact risk-awareness programs have upon the culture of safety and the resultant level of risk. The researcher spent two months in the field and data was collected through participant observation, semistructured interviews and through a review of organisational documents. This study found that managers focused upon collecting the paperwork associated with the program as proof that workers had a safer workplace, whereas workers preferred to rely upon their common sense rather than the paperwork to keep them safe. As a consequence, the riskawareness program resulted in a culture of paperwork and varying levels of risk reduction because the paperwork associated with the program created an illusion of safety for managers as much as common sense did for workers. The results of this study have implications for safety culture, risk-awareness programs and for organisational learning. They also have implications for organisations wishing to improve their safety culture by encouraging risk-awareness in front-line workers.
Description:
Safety culture has risen to prominence over the past two decades as a means by which organisations may enhance their safety performance. Safety culture may be conceptualised as an interpretive device that mediates between organisational safety rhetoric and safety programs on the one hand, and local workplace cultures on the other. More recently, risk-awareness has emerged as a cultural approach to safety. Front line workers are encouraged to become risk-aware through programs designed to prompt them to undertake mental or informal risk assessments before commencing work. The problem is that risk-awareness programs have not been the subject of systematic research and the impact of these programs on the culture of safety and the resultant level of risk is unknown. Therefore, this ethnographic study of two sites within a large contract maintenance organisation in Australia explored what impact risk-awareness programs have upon the culture of safety and the resultant level of risk. The researcher spent two months in the field and data was collected through participant observation, semistructured interviews and through a review of organisational documents. This study found that managers focused upon collecting the paperwork associated with the program as proof that workers had a safer workplace, whereas workers preferred to rely upon their common sense rather than the paperwork to keep them safe. As a consequence, the riskawareness program resulted in a culture of paperwork and varying levels of risk reduction because the paperwork associated with the program created an illusion of safety for managers as much as common sense did for workers. The results of this study have implications for safety culture, risk-awareness programs and for organisational learning. They also have implications for organisations wishing to improve their safety culture by encouraging risk-awareness in front-line workers.
Description:
"In this work, a quantitative risk assessment procedure for laboratory fume cupboards has been developed using estimates of frequency (probabilty x exposure) and severity."
Description:
Masters Degree in Applied Science, Occupational Health and Safety
Description:
"In this work, a quantitative risk assessment procedure for laboratory fume cupboards has been developed using estimates of frequency (probabilty x exposure) and severity."
Description:
Masters Degree in Applied Science, Occupational Health and Safety
Description:
There is increasing concern in Australia about safety in the thoroughbred racing industry, but there has been no reported analysis of injury data. This review analyses injury and workers' compensation data recorded in Victoria. On the basis of the results, it is recommended that the injury and incident data collection systems are improved such that they are not only more complete but also accumulate more detailed information about the location of an incident or injury event, the activity at the time of the incident or injury event, and factors that may have influenced the occurrence.
Description:
There is increasing concern in Australia about safety in the thoroughbred racing industry, but there has been no reported analysis of injury data. This review analyses injury and workers' compensation data recorded in Victoria. On the basis of the results, it is recommended that the injury and incident data collection systems are improved such that they are not only more complete but also accumulate more detailed information about the location of an incident or injury event, the activity at the time of the incident or injury event, and factors that may have influenced the occurrence.