First Communion: The Emergence of Vocal Relationships

Human infants engage in vocal communion with their mother and other prospective caregivers as soon as it becomes possible to do so. As the term is used here, 'communion' refers to a continuous state or feeling of connectedness owing to the existence of a communications link that is maintained largely by the vocalizations of infants and caregivers. It is proposed that certain types of vocalization that infants place in this channel encourage physical approach and caregiving. Several of the social behaviors that predict lexical learning, including joint attention and vocal imitation, are also, in theory, associated with maternal attachment. Since quality of attachment also predicts language development, research is needed to determine which behaviors are functionally related to language learning and which are only symptomatic of a relationship that is independently influential.     

Childhood and adolescent antecedents of psychiatric disability in men and women: a prospective study

The prevalence of childhood and adolescent antecedents of psychiatric disability, that is, an extended inability to work due to a mental disorder, were investigated in a general population sample of 1,393 Swedish men and women, followed from age 10 to age 40. The point prevalence of psychiatric disability was 3.2% among the males and 2.2% among the females. Antecedents of disability differed for the two sexes. Among the women, the disabled subjects were more likely than the non-disabled to have parents with low levels of education and low income. The disabled men showed significantly more teacher rated concentration problems and motor restlessness than did the non-disabled, later recalled school as a more negative experience, and were more likely to leave the educational system as soon as it was legally possible. Age at first contact with the mental health services also differed for disabled men and women.     

Near-Miss Incident Management in the Chemical Process Industry

This article provides a systematic framework for the analysis and improvement of near-miss programs in the chemical process industries. Near-miss programs improve corporate environmental, health, and safety (EHS) performance through the identification and management of near misses. Based on more than 100 interviews at 20 chemical and pharmaceutical facilities, a seven-stage framework has been developed and is presented herein. The framework enables sites to analyze their own near-miss programs, identify weak management links, and implement systemwide improvements.     

Assessing and Preventing Serious Incidents with Behavioral Science: Enhancing Heinrich’s Triangle for the 21st Century

ABSTRACT

The rate of occupational injuries has been declining annually, but the rate of decline for fatalities has not kept a similar pace. Behavior-based safety (BBS) contributes to reducing personal injuries, and can be applied to preventing serious incidents. To address serious injuries with greater confidence requires a change in perspective on the causes of fatalities and serious injuries. Heinrich’s safety triangle helps describe the ratio between minor incidents and major incidents, but is not adequate in helping to predict serious incidents. Adding a special subset to the safety triangle can assist safety practitioners in predicting and influencing such events. Extending the triangle to include more foundational root causes, such as leadership shortcomings and system failures, will expand the scope of the behavior analysis, and including greater specificity about the precursors to serious incidents will help the precision of the behavior analysis. The implications of the expanded triangle for amplifying the effectiveness of BBS for reducing serious incidents are discussed.