published_or_final_version / Real Estate and Construction / Master / Master of Science in Construction Project Management

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Technology: Business Administration, Durban University of Technology, 2007. / Unsafe incidents are a regular occurrence in the chemical industries, which have resulted, in some cases in the catastrophic destruction to the environment and loss of life. Major global organizations have shut down after experiencing fatal unsafe incidents as in the case of Union Carbide. This organization was closed after the Bhopal incident in India, in 1984, which claimed the lives of a-bout three thousand residents (see appendix d). In this study, the safety and operational risks at a selected chemical company in Durban are researched. This study looks at the huge number of unsafe incidents in a three year period, from (2003) to year (2005), that occurred at this organization. The objective of this study is to identify the variables that contribute to the high number of unsafe incidents within the organisation. The study will focus on the relationship between staff perceptions and management's assumptions of these contributory variables. The sub-objectives of the study are: o To ascertain staff perceptions of the contributors to the incidents and unsafe working conditions; o To determine if management is accurate in their assumptions of the causes for the incidents; and o To determine relationships between staff perceptions and actual causes of the incidents. The contributors were themed in the study in the following manner: o Behaviour and attitude; e Communications; e Plant and equipment; e Training and development; o Planning and workload; o Safety aspects; and e Other related aspects. Implementing the recommendations made will assist in reducing the number of unsafe incidents and make the organization a safer place for all stakeholders. / M

A thesis in fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Technology: Radiography, Durban University of Technology, 2006. / The study will determine the sulphur dioxide (SO2) levels in the x-ray department and evaluate it’s effects on the health of the radiology workers. The aim of the study is to mainly create awareness of occupational hazards posed by processing chemistry to radiology workers. / M

A research project submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master’s (Industrial/Organisational Psychology) in the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, March 2017 / A South African study, based on a sample of 208 medical personnel working in public and private institutions, was conducted in order to determine whether job demands and job resources led to differences in the propensity to comply with Needlestick Injury (NSI) intervention scores. Three self-report questionnaires were completed by the participants, namely the self-developed demographic questionnaire, the Job Demands-Resources Scale (JDRS) which measured job demands and resources, and thirdly the self-developed Propensity to Comply with Interventions for Needlestick Injuries Scale (PCINS) which measured the propensity to comply with interventions for NSIs. Accidental needle stick, as well as sharp, injuries occur frequently within the medical context and are associated with high risks for blood-borne infections (Adefolalu, 2014). Specifically within South Africa blood-borne infections such as HIV carry heavy significance. Needlestick injuries often go unreported by healthcare professionals, and these injuries are widely prevalent. The researcher aimed to explore the job demands and resources that contribute to and mitigate against these injuries. Therefore support for the analysis of job demands and resources and the propensity to comply with NSI interventions exists. The results of the study suggested that there were mostly no significant differences between Job Demands and Resources and the propensity to comply with NSI Interventions scores. However significant relationships were found between length of shift and the propensity to comply with NSI interventions and growth opportunities and the propensity to comply with NSI interventions. The findings did not follow the proposed hypotheses that job demands would lead to a decrease in the propensity to comply with NSI interventions and job resources would lead to an increase in the propensity to comply with NSI interventions as longer length of shift (job demand) led to an increase in propensity to comply with NSI interventions and an association between high levels of growth opportunity (job resource), and low levels of propensity to comply with NSI interventions, was found. / GR2018

Orientador: João Eduardo Guarnetti dos Santos / Banca: Jair Rosas da Silva / Banca: Luis Gonzaga Campos Porto / Resumo: O setor da cana-de-açúcar sempre foi muito bem visto no Brasil; nos séculos XVI e XVII com a grande aceitação do açúcar no mercado europeu e alto valor financeiro agregado ao produto, houve uma grande expansão do setor no nordeste brasileiro devido à adaptação da plantação ao clima e à grande presença do trabalho escravo africano no cultivo. Na década de 70 do século XX houve um salto do setor sucroenergético com a produção do etanol como fonte alternativa de energia e à fabricação do carro a álcool em um período de altas do petróleo no mercado mundial. Junto com a rápida evolução do setor sucroenergético, vieram também os problemas ecológicos e sociais. Grandes corporações subsidiadas pelo Governo Federal no Projeto Próacool, recebiam as verbas e benefícios para uma produção mais eficiente e limpa. Com todos esses problemas, no final da década de 80 do século XX, o setor entrou em desaceleração. No início do século XXI o setor vive uma oportunidade histórica, pois com o fim anunciado das reservas de petróleo e as catástrofes devido às mudanças climáticas causadas pelo homem, hoje o etanol brasileiro é visto pelo mundo como uma fonte alternativa e sustentável; sem contar com o alto valor do açúcar pelo mercado europeu como nos séculos XVI e XVII. Mas o setor não é só alegria, pois luta contra os problemas de vivência dos tratos dos trabalhadores do setor, que se assemelha muito ao trabalho escravo sofrido pelos africanos no período áureo do açúcar. Apesar de o governo fiscalizar e criar novas leis, como a NR 31 (Norma Regulamentadora - Segurança e Saúde no trabalho na agricultura, pecuária silvicultura, exploração florestal e aquicultura); os trabalhadores do setor sucroenergético tem tido pouca atenção dos profissionais que desenvolvem produtos para este setor. Tudo que se é exigido... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The sector of cane sugas has always been well regarded in Brazil, in the sixteenth and seventheenth centuries with great acceptance in the European market for sugar and high value added to the product, there was a great expansion of the sector in northeastern Brazil due to adaptation plantation climate and large presence of African slave labor in cultivation. In the 70s of the twentieth century there was a jump of the sugarcane industry with the production of ethanol as an alternative energy source and manufacture the car with alcohol in period of high oil on the world market. Along with the rapid development of the sugarcane industry, came also the ecological and social problems. Large corporations subsidized by the Federal Government in Proálcool Project, received the money and benefits for a cleaner and more efficient production. With all these problems in the late 80s of the twentieth century, the industry went into deceleration. At the beginning of the XXI century industry is experiencing a historic opportunity, because with the announced end of oil reserves and disasters due to climate change caused by humans, today Brazilian ethanol is seen by the world as an alternative and sustainable source, not counting the high amount of sugar in the European market as the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. But the industry is not only joy, for combating the problems of living the treatment of workers in the sector, which closely resembles slave labor suffered by Africans in the heyday of sugar. Althrough the government oversee and create new laws, as the NR 31 (Norm - Safety and Health at Work in agriculture, forestry livestock, forestry and aquaculture); workers in the sugarcane industry has had little attention from professionals who develope products for this sector. All that is required is adapted from another industry... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Orientador: Auro Aparecido Mendes / Banca: Enéas Rente Ferreira / Banca: Fadel David Antonio Tuma Filho / Banca: Lélio Galdino Rosa / Banca: Paulo Borges da Cunha / Resumo: A dimensão territorial, a geração, a distribuição e uso de conhecimento passaram a ter um papel relevante na competitividade das empresas e no desenvolvimento regional/local, tendo-se presente que as vantagens competitivas associadas aos Arranjos Produtivos Locais, nos países menos desenvolvidos, despertaram maior interesse a partir da década de 1990. Nessa perspectiva, que abrange a multiplicidade de agentes e sua interação, com destaque ao ambiente local, estão inseridas as questões econômicas, socioculturais e ambientais que constituem aspectos fundamentais nas análises sobre a temática dos Arranjos Produtivos Locais. Não obstante isso, não pode ser desprezada ou negligenciada a questão da saúde e da segurança do trabalhador, principalmente se a atividade produtiva a ser estudada usa intensamente os recursos humanos, uma vez que a melhoria das condições de salubridade e Segurança do Trabalhador deve ser preservada com uma legislação pertinente. Assim, esta pesquisa objetiva analisar a saúde e segurança dos trabalhadores do barro do Arranjo Produtivo Local nos bairros Olarias e Poty Velho. Para isso, verifica as dinâmicas produtivas e inovativas, as especificidades desses Arranjos, os processos de interação/cooperação e os mecanismos de aprendizagem interativa e as relações trabalhistas. A pesquisa realizada configurou-se do tipo Survey, de cunho exploratório e descritivo. O instrumento utilizado para o levantamento das informações foi 02 (dois) questionários direcionados para os empresários e trabalhadores. Todas as entrevistas foram realizadas diretamente com empresários de artesanato de barro e trabalhadores do barro. No presente estudo, verificou-se que a competitividade e a sustentabilidade do artesanato de barro, atividade que contempla os setores primário... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The territorial dimension, the distribution and the use of knowledge has had an important role in the enterprise competitiveness and in the regional/local development, taking into account that the competitive advantages associated to the Local Productive Arrangements, in the less developed countries, has caused interest from the 1990s. Concerning this, this accounts for the multiplicity of the agents and their interaction, mainly the local environment, economic, socio cultural and environmental aspects are included, once they are essential for the analysis of the Local Productive Arrangement theme. However, it can not be neglected aspects concerning the worker safety and health, mainly if the productive activity to be studied makes use of human resources, because the improvement on the worker's salubrity and safety conditions must be preserved with proper legislation. So, this research aims at analyzing the worker safety and health of the Local Productive Arrangement with clay in Olarias and Poty Velho districts. So, it verifies the productive and innovative dynamic, such arrangement specificities, the interaction/cooperation processes and the interactive learning mechanisms and labor relations. It is a survey with an exploratory descriptive approach. 02 (two) questionnaires with the entrepreneurs and workers were made to collect information. All interviews were made with the clay handicraft entrepreneurs and clay workers themselves. It was verified that competitiveness and sustainability of the clay handicraft, activity which contemplates the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors, depend on the clay worker and the environment preservation. It can be said the articulation of the strategies and actions of the Local Productive Arrangement with the public politics, the sectors of methodologies management and... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor

Thesis (LLM. (Development and Management)) -- University of Limpopo, 2012 / Occupational health, safety and wellbeing of employees is an important factor in the socioeconomic development of a country hence the need for South Africa as a developmental state, to give priority to the health and safety of employees in the country as employees are key to socio-economic development. The right to an environment that is not detrimental to the health and wellbeing of employees is also entrenched in the Constitution of the Republic making it a fundamental right which should be enjoyed by all. Laws related to occupational health and safety have been enacted in South Africa with a view to, on the one hand, prevent occupational injuries, diseases or deaths and on the other hand to provide compensation where such occurs. This study seeks to determine which of the laws are applicable, whether they are reasonable when compared to the constitutional requirements and South Africa’s obligations as a member of the international community. Comparisons are also made with other countries and recommendations made for the South African government to adequately ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of employees in the country.

Graduation date: 1994

published_or_final_version / Surveying / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

"Back injuries have consistently been the most common types of injuries suffered by people at work. They have been a significant worker injury problem in most, if not all, industrialised countries for many years and manual handling has long been established as a significant task related back injury causal factor.[...] This research project established that the manufacturers of the jet airlines used by the airlines in this study had not previously been acquainted with the issue of baggage handler back injuries.[...] This study also canvassed the opinion of airline safety professionals and airline baggage handlers concerning baggage handling tasks and working environment related causal factors. [...] A major focus of this research project was also to measure the effect of ACE and Sliding Carpet, two commercially available retro-fit baggage systems, on the risk of back injuries to baggage handlers stacking baggage within Boeing B737 narrow-body aircraft." / Doctor of Philosophy