Heliyon (Aug 2023)
System dynamics simulation of occupational health and safety management causal model based on NetLogo
Abstract
The occupational health and safety management factors of construction enterprises are critical influencing factors in their training management, and their causal principles are topics that warrant profound exploration. Drawing upon the conventional five factors, this study initially posited and authenticated a causal model among them, subsequently employing system dynamics on the NetLogo platform to dynamically simulate the model, and ultimately scrutinizing the interrelations and dynamic influence degree among the factors. The results show that the direct causes of management factors include human factors (weight coefficient of 0.583) and method factors (weight coefficient of 0.405), and environmental factors directly affect human factors (weight coefficient of 0.994), whereas material factors directly affect method factors (weight coefficient of 0.918). At the same time, it can be seen from the dynamic simulation results that the influence of human factors and method factors on management factors increases sharply in the nascent phase of the simulation cycle (the highest slope is .90), gradually decreases in the intermediary phase (the slope of the inflection point is .11), and is relatively stable in the final phase (the slope is less than 0.11). Three main conclusions have been drawn from this. Firstly, management factors are directly and positively affected by human factors and method factors respectively. Secondly, the interplay between diverse factors evinces a confluence of periodicity and exponential attributes. Thirdly, in each management cycle (set at 381 steps), the main focus is on controlling the causal factors in the early stages of management, with pivotal control points in steps 25 and 100, and the principal management factors comprising the management organization, operating procedures, and protective measures.
