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One of the most valuable assets in any organisation is the employees, although a small percent of employees in organisations are truly motivated and energised. It is essential for organisations to look into the engagement of its employees. This mini-dissertation focuses on a comparative study of the occupational wellness between lecturers and the technical IT support staff of an academic institution of the North West province in South Africa. The objectives were to determine and compare the engagement of employees in the categories mentioned above. Thereafter a comparison was made with specific aspects of the work and work environment. Literary research was done in order to discuss and conceptualise terms such as wellness and health, occupational stress and occupational wellness. Thereafter the burnout and engagement concepts were discussed. Empirical research was done by using questionnaires that were disseminated among the two different employee groups identified for the study. Firstly, the Work and Well-being questionnaire was used to determine the work engagement levels of the different groups. This questionnaire focussed on the vigour, absorption and dedication dimensions of the study sample. In this survey the reliability indicated that all the dimensions of engagement were accepted and that employees of the IT support staff group have an overall higher level of work engagement than the lecturer group. Secondly, the Job Resources questionnaire was used to evaluate how specific aspects of the work and work environment are experienced by both IT personnel and lecturing personnel. Results gained from the Cronbach‟s alpha coefficient method indicated that the questionnaire regarding factors like emotional overload, achievement, collegiality, supervision, information regarding performance and satisfaction with pay were indicated as reliable and accurate. The results from the Job Resources questionnaire indicated that emotional overload and feelings of achievement in the work environment is higher in the IT group than for lecturers. The rest of the factors tested were significantly equal for both groups. The final chapter takes the information from the previous chapters to reach a conclusion. The key finding was that the IT sample has a higher level of absorption and dedication of engagement than the lecturer sample. Secondly, the findings were that the emotional overload and achievement for the sample population is higher for the IT staff than the lecturing staff. The collegiality, supervision, information regarding performance and satisfaction with pay were at the same level for both the IT group and lecturer group. Limitations were identified along with recommendations to the organisation and future research possibilities. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010

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Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

There are three primary routes by which occupational exposure to hazardous substances occurs: inhalation, dermal absorption, and ingestion. Of these, ingestion has been the least studied. Ingestion exposure is typically controlled in workplaces by the provision of clean eating areas that are separated from the work areas, and by encouraging hand-washing prior to eating. However, this control strategy does not affect ingestion exposure that can occur when contaminated hands or objects contact the mouth; these sorts of exposures can occur during work tasks in the general work area. For example, these sorts of contacts can occur when workers wipe their mouths or noses, chew pens or glasses, or bite their nails. Exposure by this pathway is called inadvertent ingestion exposure. In addition to the insertion of contaminated hands and objects directly into the oral cavity, contact can occur with the perioral area (the area surrounding the mouth) and transferred substances can subsequently transfer to the mouth. The aim of this thesis was to study inadvertent ingestion exposure in order to develop a generic predictive screening model to allow occupational hygienists and risk assessors to estimate exposure by inadvertent ingestion for a range of exposure scenarios. The thesis project was carried out in a series of steps, all of which are described below. The steps were carried out in the order presented and the findings from the work on earlier steps influenced the work carried out in later steps.

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A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in, Microbiology and Biotechnology 2016. / Heavy metal contamination, of natural water resources, resulting from the large amounts of toxic waste generated by industrial practices is of great environmental concern. Lead (Pb) in particular is one of the most toxic heavy metals that leads to several health deficiencies upon human exposure. The reduction of heavy metals like Pb to acceptable levels in the water therefore becomes critical for potable and agricultural use. Removal of heavy metals by conventional methods is expensive and results in secondary pollution. Bioremediation, a process that passively removes heavy metals from solution through microbial biosorption, is a much sought after alternative because it is more eco-friendly and cost-effective. Micrococcus luteus and Paenibacillus castaneae are two bacterial species reported to be highly resistant to Pb making them favourable as metal biosorbents. The present study aimed to further characterise these species as biosorbents by evaluating the influence of environmental conditions on their rate of biosorption of Pb. Each bacterial isolate was heat-killed and exposed to 0.5 mM (150 mg/L) Pb and the maximal rate of metal uptake calculated when the pH, temperature and biomass concentration were varied. Additionally, the initial metal concentration was increased from 0.005 to 1.25 mM to determine its effect on Pb uptake by each species. The influence of competing cations (Ni2+, Co2+, Mn2+ and Zn2+) on the rate of Pb uptake by each isolate was also established. Both bacterial isolates resulted in the biosorption of at least 50% of 0.5 mM Pb ions when used at a pH of 7, temperature of 25 oC, and a biomass concentration of 2 g/L. The rate of metal uptake for M. luteus at the above mentioned parameters was found to be 24.51 mg/g biomass, while the rate of metal uptake for P. castaneae was 15.63 mg/g biomass. These findings indicated that M. luteus took up more Pb at a faster rate in comparison to P. castaneae. The present study furthermore elucidated that as the metal concentration of Pb was increased, the amount of Pb biosorbed by M. luteus decreased from 84.76% to 46.10%. Similarly, P. castaneae yielded 81.39% biosorption from 0.005 mM Pb but only 34.29% of Pb was taken up when the concentration was increased to 1.25 mM. When the bacteria were exposed to various competing cations an increase in the rate of Pb biosorption was observed for P. castaneae while the opposite effect was noted for M. luteus. Findings from this study show that under high metal concentrations, both M. luteus and P. castaneae are capable of significantly reducing the level of Pb from pure solution. The results warrant further treatment of several industrial effluents using these biosorbents for subsequent application in wastewater treatment. / MT2017