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Thomas Ashton Institute for Risk and Regulatory Research

TAI Update

23 February 2022

Weekly Updates from the Institute

Our researchers continue to work on the PROTECT COVID-19 National Core Study on transmission and environment.

Read the latest report from our colleague's Anna Coleman, Nicola Gartland, David Fishwick, Sheena Johnson and Martie van Tongeren, which explores the perceptions of COVID-19 virus transmission risk on public transport.

In the early stages of the pandemic, food manufacturing facilities – especially meat processing plants – came to be seen as a particular cause of concern, with a number of major outbreaks of the COVID-19 virus reported to be associated with them. There has been conjecture as to if and why food manufacturing may present a particularly high-risk environment for transmission of the virus, and what other factors may be at play.

A free online seminar, presented by colleague's Mirada Loh and Yiqun Chen with Barry Atkinson, will explore whether these concerns are borne out by the evidence, assessing risk factors and mitigations in the sector, investigating outbreaks and identifying lessons learnt. Register Online

The project team for Keeping the UK building safely (KUBS), have finished data collection and interviews, as part of its deep dive into the construction sector, and have begun data analysis.

Work is continuing on other projects:

  • NHSE wellbeing tool - Phase 2 of the project builds on existing work completed by the TAI, to develop a prototype concept of a wellbeing dashboard indicator tool for Wellbeing Guardians in the NHS
  • Proof of Concept - with EMEX. The project focuses on analysing the relationships between safety leading and lagging indicators.
  • Impact Accelerator Award with Tended. Using a knowledge base, for research into the characteristics of safety cultures, the project aims to produce a diagnostic tool that will be as accurate as a psychometric test
  • Design for Safety (DfS) in Construction: Collaboration for knowledge transfer from the UK with implications for policy and practice in Malaysia.  The project is in collaboration with Universiti Teknologi MARA MALAYSIA and seeks to improve DfS and its implementation in Malaysia.

Last week the team travelled to The University of Manchester @ Harwell for its first away.  Discussions explored the future direction of the Institute, its leadership and structure, and introduced the concept of three satellites - focused hubs of research around the topics of Discovering Safety, PROTECT and Building Safety. New UoM theme leads were introduced, and the colleagues were able to develop a set of  actions to drive the work of the institute forward.

The Institute recently met with BSI to discuss the development of a shared research project around well-being measurement.  Another meeting is being arranged with BSI and the Digitalisation and Complexity theme leads to discuss a project around leading indicators.

The TAI is set to deliver 2 workshops for the HSE, in April 2022. Planning work is underway to deliver a survey prior to the workshop.

The Institute has successfully secured funding from the ONR for 2 projects around developing a safety culture model, and board performance, corporate governance and the impact on nuclear safety, and is is preparing to submit proposals around Building Safety, Floating Offshore Wind and Workplace Violence and aggression.

Return to the full list of news stories.