Safety behavior and consumer responses to cigarette lighter safety mechanisms

This paper analyzes consumer responses to lighter child-resistant mechanisms using an original sample of 200 households with young children. Results from an in-house placement of lighters indicate that the child-resistant mechanism would diminish consumer care. The child-resistant device reduced risk perceptions, parental concern with lighter safety, the assessed need for precautions, and consumer care. The results provide the most detailed empirical evidence of the mechanisms driving the diminished safety precautions in response to technological improvements in safety. The overall efficacy of the mechanism, however, is sufficient to generate a safety improvement despite the diminished care.     

Applications of amine gelling agents in fire technology

A novel gelatin system for use in oil spills at sea provides rapid immobilization of liquids upon demand.     

American Consumption Patterns and the Price of Time: A Time-Series Analysis

National aggregate time series data on the components of Personal Consumption Expenditures from 1955 to 1984 were used to analyze the roles played by male and female wage rates in altering American consumption patterns. Male nonmarket time was found to be a substitute for all goods and services categories except Automobiles and Parts. Female nonmarket time was found to be a net complement of Automobiles and Parts, Furniture and Household Equipment, Other Durables, Gasoline and Oil, Electricity and Natural Gas, Other Household Operations, and Transportation Services and a net substitute for all other goods and services.     

More bang for the buck: Getting the most from accident investigations

An Incident Investigation system based on a combination of Fault Tree Analysis logic and the Deming Principles of Systems and Quality was developed during a three-year period. The system was given an excellent test in the investigation of the explosion of a tank car filled with methacrylic acid. In this case, the Event Tree constructed during the investigation was easily converted into a Fault Tree. The Fault Tree so constructed was then used to evaluate the effectiveness of proposed corrective changes to the production, loading, and analytical systems before the changes were actually implemented. By making use of these tools to guide the addition of feedback loops (“And” Gates in fault Tree terminology), the intrinsic safety of the methacrylic acid production and shipping system was greatly enhanced at a relatively low cost.