Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 65-69).

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 82-85).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1985.

Managing safety in the energy industry requires continuous assessment of the factors with potential to contribute to accidents. Investigations into major incidents across highhazard industries have repeatedly highlighted the critical role of management factors in relation to safety performance. As leadership from site-level managers has been identified as a key non-technical skill with potential to measurably affect safety variables, this thesis investigates how the concept of ‘safety leadership,’ a term commonly used in the energy industry, might be applied at the level of senior management. After a review of the empirical literature revealed minimal consistency across existing work on this topic, four studies were conducted to support the operationalisation of the term ‘safety leadership’ in language relevant to practicing managers. In the first study (Study 1) semistructured interviews with subject matter experts (19 senior managers, 3 health and safety professionals) supported the identification of a set of behavioural ‘elements’ of safety leadership. In Study 2, a second set of interviews with contractors (n=11) and regulators (n=11) facilitated the refinement of the element set, and a preliminary safety leadership framework was proposed wherein behavioural elements were organised into broader categories. In Study 3, a documentary analysis study, data from published incident reports from the energy industry were used to test the preliminary safety leadership framework and assess the framework’s capacity to encompass senior-level behaviours that have been implicated in major investigations. Finally, Study 4 used structured interviews with experienced senior managers (n=15) to assess the face and content validity of the framework. This research informed the development of a behavioural framework, labelled the safety leadership framework (SLF), that includes three categories (Maintaining risk awareness, Leads by example, Setting and managing safety standards) encompassing seven safety leadership elements (Promotes continuous exchange of safety information, Monitors the reality of operations, Incorporates safety into decision-making, Acts as a safety role model, Provides direction, Reinforces with rewards and consequences, Supports and motivates)

No description available.

This thesis focuses on the issue of occupational injuries. There are four different explanations of why accident rates vary. A set of research hypotheses were created based on these explanations. Multivariate regression analyses of aggregate secondary data were used to test four hypotheses. The findings of these analyses indicate that establishment size, unionization rates and strike and lockout rates are related to injury rates but earnings are not. A fifth hypothesis was tested using the mining industry of Ontario as a case study. This analysis indicates that safety-related legislative and regulatory changes were not effective in reducing either fatal injuries or non-fatal injuries.

This thesis examines the development of occupational health and safety policies in Ontario from 1880 to 1914 focusing on the Railway Accidents Act, Ontario Factory Act, Workmen's Compensation for Injuries Act and the Workmen's Compensation Act. Together they formed the basic regulatory framework that endured in Ontario until the 1970s. / The rise of industrial capitalism and the growth of the private market in the mid-1880s brought forward the factory system which depended on an unskilled labouring class and the use of power-driven machinery. Thus system of production created many risks for workers including accidents and diseases, and resultant financial problems caused by an inability to work. / The role of, and interactions among, workers, employers, and the state were key in determining the particular patterns of policy development. Although health and safety policies provided only minimal protection to workers, while at the same time causing little disruption to business, the policies were more beneficial to workers when labour played an active role in the policy-making process.

"This research investigated whether engineers, graduating from universities more than a decade after the introduction new occupational health and safety (OHS) legislation in Australia, were being equipped with the knowledge and skills to fulfil their professional, legal and moral responsibilities in relation to occupational health and safety. The study focussed on engineering students as future business leaders and designers of working environments. An instrument was designed to examine the ability of OH&S education to affect decision-making and problem solving competence in engineering students and graduates. The study found that engineering graduates in the 1990's were departing [from] their academic institutions with superficial knowledge of occupational health and safety responsibilities and accountability in the workplace. The evaluative tool identified an absence of safety management skills and knowledge within graduate and student engineer groups and an extensive urge to blame and discipline the victim or blame a government regulatory authority. The research found that although occupational health and safety professionals adopt a strategy of a safe work place rather than place emphasis on individual workers the engineers did not adopt the safe place approach and focussed on the person. It is recommended that the evaluative tool or a derivative of it should be used to evaluate the extent to which our community progresses in developing the vital OHS decision-making skills of the people who will manage and design workplaces." --p.ii. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

"This research investigated whether engineers, graduating from universities more than a decade after the introduction new occupational health and safety (OHS) legislation in Australia, were being equipped with the knowledge and skills to fulfil their professional, legal and moral responsibilities in relation to occupational health and safety. The study focussed on engineering students as future business leaders and designers of working environments. An instrument was designed to examine the ability of OH&S education to affect decision-making and problem solving competence in engineering students and graduates. The study found that engineering graduates in the 1990's were departing [from] their academic institutions with superficial knowledge of occupational health and safety responsibilities and accountability in the workplace. The evaluative tool identified an absence of safety management skills and knowledge within graduate and student engineer groups and an extensive urge to blame and discipline the victim or blame a government regulatory authority. The research found that although occupational health and safety professionals adopt a strategy of a safe work place rather than place emphasis on individual workers the engineers did not adopt the safe place approach and focussed on the person. It is recommended that the evaluative tool or a derivative of it should be used to evaluate the extent to which our community progresses in developing the vital OHS decision-making skills of the people who will manage and design workplaces." --p.ii. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)