A literature review conducted as part of a research project named “Measuring Safety in Aviation – Developing Metrics for Safety Management Systems” revealed several challenges regarding the safety metrics used in aviation. One of the conclusions was that there is limited empirical evidence about the relationship between Safety Management System (SMS) processes and safety outcomes. In order to explore such a relationship, respective data from 7 European airlines was analyzed to explore whether there is a monotonic relation between safety outcome metrics and SMS processes, operational activity and demographic data widely used by the industry. Few, diverse, and occasionally contradictory associations were found, indicating that (1) there is a limited value of linear thinking followed by the industry, i.e., “the more you do with an SMS the higher the safety performance”, (2) the diversity in SMS implementation across companies renders the sole use of output metrics not sufficient for assessing the impact of SMS processes on safety levels, and (3) only flight hours seem as a valid denominator in safety performance indicators. At the next phase of the research project, we are going to explore what alternative metrics can reflect SMS/safety processes and safety performance in a more valid manner
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Various tools for safety performance measurement have been introduced in order to fulfil the need for safety monitoring in organisations, which is tightly related to their overall performance and achievement of their business goals. Such tools include accident rates, benchmarking, safety culture and climate assessments, cost-effectiveness studies, etc. The current work reviews the most representative methods for safety performance evaluation that have been suggested and applied by a variety of organisations, safety authorities and agencies. This paper discusses several viewpoints of the applicability, feasibility and appropriateness of such tools, based on the viewpoints of managers and safety experts involved in a relevant research that was conducted in a large aviation organisation. The extensive literature cited, the discussion topics, along with the conclusions and recommendations derived, might be considered by any organisation that seeks a realistic safety performance assessment and establishment of effective measurement tools.
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This paper presents an alternative way to use records from safety investigations as a means to support the evaluation of safety management (SM) aspects. Datasets from safety investigation reports and progress records of an aviation organization were analyzed with the scope of assessing safety management’s role, speed of safety communication, timeliness of safety investigation processes and realization of safety recommendations, and the extent of convergence among SM and investigation teams. The results suggested an interfering role of the safety department, severe delays in safety investigations, timely implementation of recommendations, quick dissemination of investigation reports to the end-users, and a low ratio of investigation team recommendations included in the final safety investigation reports. The results were attributed to non-scalable safety investigation procedures, ineffective resource management, lack of consistent bidirectional communication, lack of investigators’ awareness about the overall organizational context, and a weak commitment of other departments to the realization of safety recommendations. The set of metrics and the combination of quantitative and qualitative methods presented in this paper can support organizations to the transition towards a performance-based evaluation of safety management.
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In the last decade, the automotive industry has seen significant advancements in technology (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and autonomous vehicles) that presents the opportunity to improve traffic safety, efficiency, and comfort. However, the lack of drivers’ knowledge (such as risks, benefits, capabilities, limitations, and components) and confusion (i.e., multiple systems that have similar but not identical functions with different names) concerning the vehicle technology still prevails and thus, limiting the safety potential. The usual sources (such as the owner’s manual, instructions from a sales representative, online forums, and post-purchase training) do not provide adequate and sustainable knowledge to drivers concerning ADAS. Additionally, existing driving training and examinations focus mainly on unassisted driving and are practically unchanged for 30 years. Therefore, where and how drivers should obtain the necessary skills and knowledge for safely and effectively using ADAS? The proposed KIEM project AMIGO aims to create a training framework for learner drivers by combining classroom, online/virtual, and on-the-road training modules for imparting adequate knowledge and skills (such as risk assessment, handling in safety-critical and take-over transitions, and self-evaluation). AMIGO will also develop an assessment procedure to evaluate the impact of ADAS training on drivers’ skills and knowledge by defining key performance indicators (KPIs) using in-vehicle data, eye-tracking data, and subjective measures. For practical reasons, AMIGO will focus on either lane-keeping assistance (LKA) or adaptive cruise control (ACC) for framework development and testing, depending on the system availability. The insights obtained from this project will serve as a foundation for a subsequent research project, which will expand the AMIGO framework to other ADAS systems (e.g., mandatory ADAS systems in new cars from 2020 onwards) and specific driver target groups, such as the elderly and novice.
Every year the police are confronted with an ever increasing number of complex cases involving missing persons. About 100 people are reported missing every year in the Netherlands, of which, an unknown number become victims of crime, and presumed buried in clandestine graves. Similarly, according to NWVA, several dead animals are also often buried illegally in clandestine graves in farm lands, which may result in the spread of diseases that have significant consequences to other animals and humans in general. Forensic investigators from both the national police (NP) and NWVA are often confronted with a dilemma: speed versus carefulness and precision. However, the current forensic investigation process of identifying and localizing clandestine graves are often labor intensive, time consuming and employ classical techniques, such as walking sticks and dogs (Police), which are not effective. Therefore, there is an urgent request from the forensic investigators to develop a new method to detect and localize clandestine graves quickly, efficiently and effectively. In this project, together with practitioners, knowledge institutes, SMEs and Field labs, practical research will be carried out to devise a new forensic investigation process to identify clandestine graves using an autonomous Crime Scene Investigative (CSI) drone. The new work process will exploit the newly adopted EU-wide drone regulation that relaxes a number of previously imposed flight restrictions. Moreover, it will effectively optimize the available drone and perception technologies in order to achieve the desired functionality, performance and operational safety in detecting/localizing clandestine graves autonomously. The proposed method will be demonstrated and validated in practical operational environments. This project will also make a demonstrable contribution to the renewal of higher professional education. The police and NVWA will be equipped with operating procedures, legislative knowledge, skills and technological expertise needed to effectively and efficiently performed their forensic investigations.
Demografische ontwikkeling stellen de zorg voor grote uitdagingen. Het personeelstekort neemt toe en de zorgvraag zal sterk blijven stijgen. Er is groeiende noodzaak voor automatisering die de zorgprofessional ondersteunt, zoals robots voor logistieke taken in ziekenhuizen (vervoer van bedden/medicijnen/lab-samples,…). Die robots moeten vlot en veilig tussen professionals, zieken en bezoekers door kunnen navigeren. Ze moeten begrijpbaar, geaccepteerd en veilig gedrag vertonen terwijl tegelijkertijd de performance (lees: bezorgtijd) daar niet onder mag lijden. Autonome voertuigen en mobiele robots kunnen al goed functioneren in gestructureerde omgevingen zoals autosnelwegen en afgesloten magazijnen. Het wordt uitdagender bij interactie met mensen die onverwacht gedrag kunnen vertonen. Autonome voertuigen hebben bijvoorbeeld moeite met stadscentra waar voetgangers en fietsers grootschalig verkeerregels overtreden. De automotive sector heeft de SOTIF (Safety-Of-The-Intended-Functionality) standaard geadopteerd. SOTIF onderscheidt ‘safe/unsafe’ en ‘known/unknown’ gebruiksscenario’s en promoot een proces van geautomatiseerd virtueel testen, waarbij een groeiende scenariodatabase zich richt op minimalisatie van unknown en/of unsafe scenario’s. Deze benadering stimuleert continue verbetering van performance en veiligheid en zou ook de interactie van mobiele zorgrobots met mensen sterk kunnen verbeteren. De software tools hiervoor zijn echter duur en momenteel sterk automotive georiënteerd. HAN gebruikt in diverse onderzoeksprojecten de open-source CARLA verkeersimulator. CARLA kan voetgangers simuleren, inclusief de nodige voertuig/robotsensoren voor perceptie van deze voetgangers. Daarbij heeft CARLA support voor OpenSCENARIO, een standaard om gebruiksscenario’s te beschrijven, en een interface met ROS (Robot Operating System), dat door Ambee en HAN wordt gebruikt voor ontwikkeling van robotbesturing. Cybertest onderzoekt bruikbaarheid van CARLA voor indoor zorgtoepassingen, middels creatie van een proof-of-concept van een scenariogebaseerde virtuele verificatie&validatie omgeving, gebruikmakend van CARLA en OpenSCENARIO. Het open-source karakter van CARLA biedt flexibiliteit voor aanpassing richting indoor omgevingen, biedt betaalbaarheid voor het MKB en laat zich flexibel inzetten in het onderwijs.
