Resolution of reliability problems based on failure mode analysis: an integrated proposal applied to a mining case study

Abstract

Reliability determines, in large part, the operational productivity. Nevertheless, a frequent problem is the absence of effective mechanisms to support maintenance management. In particular, there is a need for methodologies focused on improving the detection and analysis of risks that affect reliability. This article presents a methodological proposal for the resolution of these problems, using a high-impact failure mode analysis. The methodology is based on four phases: identification of failure modes, ranking and criticality analysis of them, identification of the root cause(s) and search for highly effective solutions. Among the variety of tools that can be used, it is proposed the use of three specific tools: Criticality Analysis, which allows discrimination and ranking of phenomena and assets; Root Cause Analysis, which focuses on the identification of the real causes of the problems; and a tool for generation of effective and efficient solutions (TRIZ), which it is not usually applied to reliability problems. The proposal is applied in a mining filtration plant, identifying and classifying current problems and generating solutions.     

Advocacy Compromised: How Financial,Organizational and Institutional Factors Shape Advocacy Strategies of Civil Society Organizations

Key functions of civil society organizations (CSOs) are to criticize governments and to hold them to account. Recent trends of privatization and contracting out challenge CSOs’ opportunities to voice such criticism. The purpose of this article is to analyse whether and why CSOs ‘hold back their criticism’ of public authorities, and how a compromised advocacy can be linked to financial, organizational and institutional factors. The article draws on an original survey of 2678 Swedish CSOs. The analyses show that certain levels of funding make CSOs more likely to hold back in their criticism, but also organizational and institutional factors play a role. The results identify the importance of distinguishing between objective and subjective factors related to how dependency is framed. It is the felt needs, experiences and perceptions of CSOs themselves that make hem prone to the strategic choice to hold back criticism of public authorities.     

Understanding the needs of LGBTQ clients and their risk for commercial sexual exploitation: Training community mental health workers

Training on commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) and victimization of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youths can increase awareness among professionals who provide services to this community. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a community-based training program geared toward mental health workers in a diverse metropolitan city. The training provided information about the continuum of sexuality and gender identity, sensitivity when working with LGBTQ clients, LGBTQ clients’ risks for CSE, and ways to improve service delivery to this population. Participants’ (N?=?64) knowledge level of these areas was examined prior to the training, immediately thereafter, and in a six-month follow-up. Participants showed an increase in knowledge from pretest to posttest. Follow-up testing on a limited sample revealed scores that were lower than posttest scores, but higher than pretest scores. Overall, through this community-based training, participants gained knowledge about the continuum of sexual and gender identity, appropriate service delivery when working with LGBTQ individuals, and the risk factors for CSE for LGBTQ youths. Participants also reported feeling satisfied with the training approach and format. Implications for future training to enhance mental health workers’ competence with LGBTQ victims of sexual exploitation are explored.     

Eletrobras management program in ergonomics: the pursuit of excellence through maturity levels

Ergonomics for Eletrobras arose from the need in having an environment more suitable to the characteristics and circumstances of employees, in compliance with Regulation Standard no. 17 - Ergonomics (NR17) of the Ministry of Labor and Employment. Being a mixed economy company with regionalized anthropometric characteristics of its employees, the study of ergonomic adjustments and improvement of the concept of Ergonomics were and have been of great importance to the company's production environment. These advances have contributed to the development of specific technical criteria for the purchase of furniture and work tools (accessories), apart from their possible effects on the user. Ergonomics has been perceived as a technical-scientific tool, aimed to study labor interactions, new technologies and specific characteristics of the activities performed. To meet these demands a multidisciplinary Ergonomics Committee was created in Eletrobras, and effectively established the Ergonomics Management Program in the company; This program is marked by well-defined phases with great success in making use of these studies for other types of corporate activities and also facilitating the program control and its maturity levels, even at a business level.     

Moral harassment at work model and inability

Moral Harassment at Work (MHW) is considered a recurrent practice of humiliation, mockery, isolation, persecution and psychological torture. Its results go beyond the worker private life: represent financial loss, affects the work, the organization, the productivity and the society. This article aims to develop a model of MHW, which characterizes the main components of the phenomenon and their nexus with the inability to work. For this, the Literature field is consulted, in order to identify systematically, the MHW components and their risky factors. The results showed a multifaceted model which demonstrates: the aggressor/victim and the configuration of the Moral Harassment at Work causes. The management of the degraded work. The characteristic features of the inability to work, caused on the victim. The MHW modalities and as a final product, the integration among these components. It is expected that this model can help the Ergonomist comprehending this phenomenon and contribute on the creation of some strategies of prevention on the workplace. It is concluded that the removal or minimization of this occupational risks requires some changes on the job organization, on the people`s behaviour, the leadership styles, on the humanization of the social labor relationship and on the coping this problem.     

Moral harassment of public schools teachers

Programs geared towards the occupational health of public workers, that include the prevention of moral harassment, have been created in Santa Catarina. Any institution identified for its poor records in regards to moral harassment will end up having its image tainted before society at large. This is due to its use of arbitrary and embarrassing means for accomplishing everyday tasks. This article aims to consider Workplace Psychological Harassment (WPH), its risks and implications for the health of public workers. The methodology chosen was a teacher's case study, which consisted of document research, interviews, anamnesis and observation, all in order to relate both theory and practice. The results indicate that WPH is a complex phenomenon, which can be studied in a variety of ways. WPH risks the biopsychosocial health of the worker, causing the deterioration in social-professional relations, illness, and incapacity, as well as higher costs and certain degradation in production. It is difficult to prove incidents and their impact. Nevertheless, this research concluded that WPH has harmful consequences for the physical and mental health of workers, and is in the ergonomic field, since part of this profession's role is to seek understanding of work in order to reorganize it.     

Reward Preferences of Pathological Gamblers Under Conditions of Uncertainty: An Experimental Study

Among many personality traits, impulsivity represents one of the most important traits associated with pathological gambling. Empirical research has highlighted the multidimensional nature of impulsivity, which includes different heterogeneous traits and behavioral tendencies. The present study experimentally examined reward preferences of pathological gamblers under conditions of uncertainty using the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). Furthermore it also examined the relationship between impulsivity, time perspective, inability to tolerate delay in gratification, and risk-taking. The present study is the first to simultaneously examine all these variables simultaneously in a sample of pathological gamblers (n = 54) and healthy controls (n = 54) from Italy. All participants participated in the BART and were also administered Italian versions of the South Oaks Gambling Screen, the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, the Consideration of Future Consequences, and the Monetary Choice Questionnaire. Analyses revealed that compared to HCs, PGs were more risk prone on the BART, and reported elevated levels of impulsivity, steeper discounting rates and a shorter time perspective. All the measures correlated with the gambling severity and strong correlations between the BIS, CFC-14 and BART were observed. Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that impulsivity and risk-taking were strong predictors of pathological gambling.     

Competing for jobs: Labor queues and gender sorting in the hiring process

While much research has documented the pattern and extent of sex segregation of workers once they are employed, few studies have addressed the pre-hire mechanisms that are posited to produce sex segregation in employment. While the notion of a labor queue—the rank order of the set of people that employers choose among—plays a prominent role in pre-hire accounts of job sex sorting mechanisms, few studies have examined the ways in which job candidates are sorted into labor queues. In this paper, we explore the mechanisms by which labor queues contribute to the gendering of jobs by studying the hiring process for all jobs at a call center. Being placed in a queue has a clear gendering effect on the hiring process: the sex distribution of applicants who are matched to queues and those who are rejected at this phase diverge, and among those assigned to queues, women are prevalent in queues for low pay, low status jobs. The screening process also contributes to the gendering of the population of hires at this firm. Females are more prevalent among hires than they are among candidates at initial queue assignment. Among high status jobs, however, males are more prevalent than females. Moreover, there are important wage implications associated with matching to queues. While there are large between-queue sex differences in the paid wages associated with allocation to queues, once allocated to queues the wage differences between male and female candidates are nil. Consequently, the roots of gender wage inequality in this setting lie in the initial sorting of candidates to labor queues.