Climate-related risks pose challenges to communities globally as changing climatic conditions alter the patterns of natural hazards which threaten human lives and infrastructure. In Longyearbyen, ...Norway, in the High Arctic Svalbard archipelago, climatic changes presently occur at rates well in excess of global means, with corresponding changes to climate-related risks requiring new and improved risk governance strategies. Here, we present the results from a literature review investigating how recent advances in climate-related risk governance can help inform risk governance strategy development in Longyearbyen. The literature identified in our work indicates recent research into the governance of climate-related risks has focused to a large extent on flooding or landslides. Successful risk governance in the reviewed literature often included data collection of both environmental and social information and emphasized local, context-specific knowledge via bi-directional risk communication throughout the risk governance process. We identified knowledge gaps in the literature review. First, there is a missing societal safety perspective on climate changes and natural hazards: much of the identified literature views the climatic changes and natural hazards either through a physical process-based perspective rooted in the natural sciences, or focuses on physical mitigation measures, without considering the interaction of nature, technology, and society. Second, there is a lack of research on data collection and analysis strategies that combine the acquisition of local knowledge via a discourse-based approach with data and knowledge generated from sensors or physical models via a technical approach. Third, more research is required on uncertainty assessment and handling in the risk governance process. Fourth, there is missing consideration of short-term disaster handling approaches – especially in relation to relatively more frequent consideration of long-term climate adaptation strategies. Finally, as none of the reviewed works specifically addressed risk governance in an Arctic setting, we discuss how the results from this literature review and the proposed risk governance framework can help transfer knowledge to Longyearbyen’s context. Our results help clarify current knowledge related to the governance of climate-related risks and provide a foundation for future work in Arctic locations.
"The oil and gas industry is going through a major technological shift. This is particularly true of the Norwegian continental shelf where new work processes are being implemented based on digital ...infrastructure and information technology. The term Integrated Operations (IO) has been applied to this set of new processes. It is defined by the Centre for Integrated Operations in the Petroleum Industry as 'work processes and technology to make smarter decisions and better execution, enabled by ubiquitous real time data, collaborative techniques and access to multiple expertise'"--Provided by publisher.
The paper identifies frequent accident types in the construction industry, characterises the accident sequence, and identifies barrier failures for the most frequent accident types. 176 accidents in ...the Norwegian construction industry investigated by the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority in 2015 are analysed. The most frequent accident types include: fall from roof, floor or platform; contact with falling objects; fall from scaffold; and contact with moving parts of a machine. A comparison of the study sample to other injury samples, showed that the distribution of accident types varied regarding severity and different construction types. This can be explained by differences in work type, hazard, and energy type and energy amount. An analysis of barrier failures showed that many accidents are explained by the lack of physical barrier elements. The results indicate that there is significant potential for accident prevention in the construction industry by systematic barrier management.
Users play an important role in the information security performance of organisations by their security awareness and cautious behaviour. Interviews of users at an IT-company and a bank were ...qualitatively analyzed in order to explore users' experience of information security and their personal role in the information security work. The main patterns of the study were: (1) users state to be motivated for information security work, but do not perform many individual security actions; (2) high information security workload creates a conflict of interest between functionality and information security; and (3) documented requirements of expected information security behaviour and general awareness campaigns have little effect alone on user behaviour and awareness. The users consider a user-involving approach to be much more effective for influencing user awareness and behaviour.
•Using the ConAC framework, 1.039 causal factors were identified in 176 construction accidents.•Factors most identified were worker actions, risk management and immediate supervision.•Worker actions ...is the outcome of many other causal factors.•Immediate supervision is a key causal factor connecting management and worker actions.•Risk management is a key causal factor and strongly connected to immediate supervision and worker actions.
The aim of this study was to add to the relatively sparse literature on accident causality in the construction industry by identifying frequent causal factors and connections between causal factors. Using the Construction Accident Causation (ConAC) framework, 176 relatively severe construction accidents investigated by the Labour Inspection Authority in 2015 were analysed. The seven factors most identified were (in rank order): (1) worker actions, (2) risk management, (3) immediate supervision, (4) usability of materials or equipment, (5) local hazards, (6) worker capabilities, and (7) project management. A set theoretic approach was used to identify causal connections between causal factors. Risk management, immediate supervision and worker actions were found to be key causal factors and strongly connected. The analyses identified seven causal factors consistently connected to worker actions, for example immediate supervision and local hazards. Immediate supervision was found to be strongly connected to both worker actions and risk management, underlining the importance of the supervisor controlling unsafe conditions/acts and planning the work to reduce risk. Strong connections were also found between risk management and immediate supervision, and between risk management and worker actions. Risk management and immediate supervision is to a large degree about planning and risk control at different levels, underlining the importance of risk being addressed at different levels and by different actors in construction projects.
Safety management in construction is complicated due to the complex “nature” of the construction industry. The aim of this research was to identify safety management factors (e.g., risk management ...and site management), contextual factors (e.g., organisational complexity) and combinations of such factors connected to safety performance. Method: Twelve construction projects were selected to compare their safety management and safety performance. An analytical framework was developed based on previous research, regulations, and standards where each management factor was defined. We employed qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to produce case knowledge, compare the cases, and identify connections between the factors and safety performance. The material collected and analyzed included, for example, construction planning documents, reports from OHS-inspections, safety indicators, and interviews with project leaders and OHS experts. Results and conclusions: The research showed that: (a) the average score on 12 safety management factors was higher among projects with high safety performance compared to projects with low safety performance; (b) high safety performance can be achieved with both high and low construction complexity and organizational complexity, but these factors complicate coordination of actors and operations; (c) it is possible to achieve high safety performance despite relatively poor performance on many safety management factors; (d) eight safety management factors were found to be “necessary” for high safety performance, namely roles and responsibilities, project management, OHS management and integration, safety climate, learning, site management, staff management, and operative risk management. Site management, operative risk management, and staff management were the three factors most strongly connected to safety performance. Practical implications: Construction stakeholders should understand that the ability to achieve high safety performance in construction projects is connected to key safety management factors, contextual factors, and combinations of such factors.
•Practices and benefits of Job Safety Analysis (JSA) is studied.•Six benefits in terms of safety as well as production are identified.•Too many JSAs are performed for activities that should be ...handled by other methods.
The aim of the presented study is to investigate the practices and benefits of Job Safety Analysis (JSA) in construction projects. The study was performed by executing interviews at six construction projects; by observations of JSA meetings; and by a document study of 97 JSA forms. The study demonstrates that too many JSAs are performed for activities in which barriers and procedures should have been established prior to initiating the JSA. Although hazard control can be established on the basis of other methods than JSA, the method has other benefits in terms of safety as well as production. The study identifies six interwoven benefits of the JSA: formalisation of work; retrospective and prospective accountability; worker participation and possibility to influence their own work; organisational learning in communities of practice; improved situational awareness; and loss prevention in dynamic systems. These are benefits both in terms of safe and efficient operations, which underline the link between safety, quality and effectiveness.
Traditional safety thinking has been concerned with investigating accident causations in order to learn from these. However, successful operations constitute the great majority of all the operations. ...It would thus be interesting to add a focus towards learning from operations that go well. The purpose of the current study is to identify factors that might contribute to successful operations in terms of safety. This purpose is approached by an empirical study consisting of 10 interviews with people who work on board a drilling rig currently operating in Norway. The informants who participated in the interviews hold different positions and come from different companies represented on board the rig. The findings in this study show that it can be difficult to characterize or define successful operations. The definition will be subjective; however, there are some common features of successful operations. Maintaining the life and health of people are the number one priority. A successful operation should also result in the intended product even though it might take some more time than planned. A successful operation is created by many factors and conditions. This study identified 27 factors that might contribute to successful operations in terms of safety. A lot of the theory explaining successful operations focuses on informal factors related to humans and their actions. However, the findings in this study implies that there must be both formal and informal factors present.
•Two major obstacles to efficient learning from reports are identified.•First obstacle: underreporting at the sharp end.•Second obstacle: reports are not applied to improve safety performance.•The ...study adds one problem to the current literature about underreporting.•Workers perform flexible solutions to get the work done both safe and efficient without reporting.•Paradoxically, management still wants reports of unwanted occurrences.
An interview study in a major Norwegian construction company was conducted to analyse learning from reports of unwanted occurrences (RUO). Systems for reporting unwanted occurrences are on of the most important tools in systematic safety management to ensure efficient experience feedback that will improve safety performance. The interview study identifies two major obstacles to efficient learning from reports of unwanted occurrences (1) under-reporting at the sharp end, and (2) reports are not analysed and applied to improve the safety performance. The reasons for under-reporting are the same as those identified in previously published studies on under-reporting, with one exception. The interviews show that many workers are flexible and choose to correct the situation right there and without documenting the occurrences in order to perform both effective as well as safe work. It is paradoxical that those at the sharp end prefer to put things right and continue the work in a safer manner without spending time reporting, at the same time as the HSE management wants all unwanted occurrences to be documented for learning purposes. A root cause for the identified obstacles is a conflicting objective between production and safety.
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