Appendix IB. Course Syllabi

IE 471 Safety and Reliability in the Design of Work Systems

Description:
The quantitative study of work systems through the methods of engineering analysis and design, human reliability analysis and the use of simulation to model workplace hazards, nonmajor graduate credit.

Prerequisites: IE 271

Text:
Occupational Safety Management and Engineering (4^th ed.), Hammer, W., Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

Course Objectives:

1. To develop capability in applying theory and techniques of work system analysis, ergonomics, process control, reliability and total quality management to designing and improving processes for maximum safety.
2. To acquire knowledge and understanding of the legal and ethical aspects of safety engineering that apply in U.S. industry and in global operations.
3. To develop capability in applying theory and techniques of physics, chemistry, mathematics, statistics and basic engineering science to designing safe work systems and environments and evaluating existing designs and physical causes of system failure when accidents occur.
4. To acquire ability and understanding in the application of management theory and techniques to the establishment and management of safety programs.
5. To obtain experience in investigating a safety topic in depth in terms of its technical, human, managerial, economic and social (legal, regulatory, public safety, ethical) impact with recommendations for improving safety.

Topics Covered:

1. Introduction, scope, objectives, basic concepts
2. Accident losses, National Safety Council data
3. Accident modeling
4. Liabilities and safety legislation
5. Corporate attitudes
6. Warnings and labelS
7. Workers’ compensation
8. OSHAct, regulations and procedures
9. Standards and codes
10. Training, job safety analysis
11. Hazards and their control-strategies
12. Fault tree analysis, root tree analysis
13. Plant safety appraisal
14. Basic reliability modeling
15. Human Reliability modeling
16. Planning for emergencies
17. Accident investigations
18. Mechanical injuries
19. Pressure hazards
20. Mechanical guarding
21. Manual material handling
22. Cumulative trauma disorders
23. Computer workstations
24. Heat stress
25. Fire safety, fire suppression*
26. First aid*
27. Noise control*

*Optional on a selective basis

Class/Laboratory Schedule:
The course meets for three 50-minute class periods. Project work, laboratory experiments and surveys are conducted as each student team arranges their group work. There are three full period in-class examinations.

Professional Component Contributions:
Students learn how to design, evaluate and manage safe work systems and products in industry, to create safe work procedures and environments and to implement safety programs designed for continuous improvement. They also learn about existing legislation, standards and codes affecting the practice of industrial engineering. Through their team project investigations, they learn how to research a given problem in safety engineering.

Relationship to Program Objectives:

Objectives 1, 3, and 6 — Students apply knowledge from industrial engineering courses in manufacturing, ergonomics, quality control and ergonomics in evaluating work design examples presented in class as homework or test problems and in completing their team semester projects.

Objective 2 and 7 — Students see problems in actual industrial or organizational settings when doing their semester projects. They are able to discuss alternatives with managers and workers in terms of economic feasibility including effects on procedures and productivity as well as costs of implementation..

Objectives 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 —Team semester projects require student teams to examine their chosen topics from a systems design and management point of view.

Objectives 2 and 7 — Group semester projects provide an opportunity for students to work in teams. Each team has a leader or coordinator. Industrial or institutional safety projects also require cooperation and input from workers, managers and engineers employed in the participating organization.

How Assessed:
Students’ understanding of concepts, models and techniques are assessed on homework problem solutions, answers to test questions and in project proposals and progress reports. Final project reports demonstrate overall mastery of methods, techniques and information presented in the course. Alpha Pi Mu conducts midterm course evaluations. Course and instructor evaluations with comments are submitted by students at the end of the course.

Actions Taken to Improve the Course:
I have used more real accident examples in recent years. I have also introduced more concepts from behavioral and cognitive psychology, particularly in the area of Situation Awareness.

Prepared by: S. Keith Adams

Date Prepared: 12/10/99