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Nickel is frequently reported as an agent causing allergic contact dermatitis in humans and was selected as an example for the investigation into the molecular mechanisms of the sensitivity. Nickel, as a hapten, may not constitute the complete antigen. The protein of cellular conjugates of nickel formed in the skin may represent the antigenic complexes, but the number and nature are unknown. In this submission, allergic contact dermatitis to nickel is reviewed; data on the immunological processes from various human and animal-model systems relevant to this problem are appraised and experimental investigations into the antigenic complexes of nickel are described. The albino guinea-pig was selected as a suitable animal model and a test system was developed to induce and elicit allergic contact dermatitis to nickel in this species. Under the exposure conditions of this system, an incidence of the sensitivity of 70-100% in a test population was experimentally induced. This consistently high incidence was not achieved by the use of standard published animal methods. Time-coursed In vivo exposure studies, employing 63NiCl2 as a radiotracer, were performed to qualitatively and quantatively examine the absorption and accumulation of nickel in the skin. The results indicated that soluble nickel salts are poorly absorbed across the skin. Maximum plasma levels were seen after 12 hours of exposure, although these represented only a very small percentage of the appled nickel salts (0.06%). Absorbed nickel was excreted in the urine. Microautoradiography of in vivo exposed skin indicated that transappendageal passage may be the main route of entry into the body. Accumulation of nickel was apparent in the highly keratinized areas of the skin, and labelling of basal and supra-basal epidermal cells was observed. Dermal accumulation was not seen. Fractionation of the in vivo exposed epidermis by zonal ultracentrification and gel filtration revealed four main areas of nickel localization. It was found associated with a microsomal fraction, with albumin, with an epidermal protein fraction (molecular weight 8,700) and with low molecular weight (< 5,000) residues. The antigenicity of each isolated nickel-containing fraction was assessed by in vitro lymphocyte transformation. The primary antigens in this system were the epidermal protein fraction (molecular weight 8,700) and the microsomal fraction. The low molecular weight residues possessed some very weak antigenic properties. Allergic contact dermatitis appears to be a complex sensitivity reaction to more than one antigen in the skin. The recognition of antigen by the immune system is protein-carrier dependant and the processing of haptenic or antigenic information by microsomal constituents may be an importanat function in the induction phase of the dematitis.

Shipping is a fragmented, global industry operating in a culturally diverse environment. As a result of rising maritime accident rates and pollution incidents in the 1970s and 1980s, the International Maritime Organisation introduced two conventions that entered fully into force in 2002: the International Management Code for the Safe Operation of Ships and Pollution Prevention (ISM Code), and the 1995 revision of the 1978 Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW Code). Introduction of the conventions served to focus the attention of the international maritime community on the need to raise industry-wide safety standards, but questions were raised about whether it was possible to develop a safety culture in a fragmented, global industry and what effects the diversity of cultures might have upon implementation of the ISM Code. This study explores those questions. Subsequent to a review of the literature, a model of the working of the ISM Code is developed and used to identify the constraints and pressures, particularly those that might be influenced by cultural values and attitudes, that impact upon the development and implementation of a Safety Management System in individual shipping organisations, which is the essence of the ISM Code. A comparative case study methodology is adopted for the empirical research and a number of investigative techniques are used to test the ISM Code model and obtain both qualitative and quantitative data to determine whether the impact of culturally influenced constraints and pressures would be best addressed by stricter enforcement of existing regulatory provisions or greater emphasis on education and training. From analysis of the data collected, the study concluded that: • Professional, vocational and safety training correctly utilised are effective in harmonising culturally influenced safety perspectives, thus improving safety performance; and • Culturally influenced constraints and pressures can be dealt with by the application of standard management techniques which, in a multi-cultural environment requires good cross-cultural management skills. The most common method of determining how effective a company has been in dealing with the various constraints and pressures affecting safety performance is to evaluate the efficacy of the organisation's Safety Management System by analysis of accident records, lost time incidents and hazardous occurrences (ACNSI, 1993). These data, reported under the provisions of Clause 9 of the ISM Code, are therefore analysed and compared with an industry sector benchmark. The study however, goes beyond such a purely quantitative approach and establishes the relative safety climate of the case study companies by means of perceptual audit of salient, safety-related factors. This qualitative technique draws together all the main research elements of the study and a Safety Climate Comparator is developed that provides a useful indicator of the relative status of those culturally influenced factors that ultimately affect a company's safety performance. By extension, the technique may be used to provide a Relative Safety Culture Maturity Model to measure the safety climate of other shipping companies relative to a benchmark standard.

The purpose of this essay is to describe the legal conditions of the two legal rights the safety representatives upholds, the right to suspend work and the right to request investigations. Furthermore, it should be investigated and explained what obstacles and problems the safety representatives may face when it comes to exercising these rights. The aim is also to give the essay a diversity perspective with the help of a study of language problems among migrated workers and if this can be a safety hazard in the work and how it then can be related to the safety representatives legal rights mentioned above. As occupational health and safety issues also are regulated by EU law, the purpose of this essay is also to give a brief account of how EU bodies affects the law concerning occupational health and safety issues. In order to answer the essays research questions and to achieve its purpose, I have worked with the legal method and also performed a qualitative research interview.   I have concluded that the right to request investigations and the right to suspend work are two powerful tools that a safety representative has at its disposal. However, there are several aspects that can affect how they can be used and for what. Furthermore, I also came to the conclusion that there are certain obstacles affecting safety representatives possibilities  to work with its right, in the form of knowledge, time for education and also fear from negative consequences applied from the employer. Finally, I would like to present my conclusions concerning language problems and that they could be considered a safety hazard in the work and that the right to request investigations and the right to suspend work could be relevant in the particular case.