Thesis (MScFor)--Stellenbosch University, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The Technology and People: an analysis of the forest workforce, technology and the sourcing decision in forest harvesting in South Africa. M.Sc. Forestry thesis, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. 124pp. This thesis looks at the profiles of the workforce in forest harvesting in the forestry industry in South Africa. It provides methods and models to measure and understand people (human capital) and technology. It highlights some of the current and strategic challenges in: employee conditions of employment; occupational health and safety; worker nutrition; training; worker dynamics (employee absenteeism and labour turnover); and the technology in forest harvesting. This study puts additional emphasis towards measuring and understanding the grower company/contractor interface (i.e., the contractoring philosophy, contractor profiles and competitive strategies) and discusses the contracting decision by the grower companies. The latter, the contracting decision is important because it forms the foundation and framework upon which forest harvesting contractor businesses are built and the background for both the people and technology dynamics. Forest harvesting employees in South Africa are working in forestry because they cannot get other jobs elsewhere. They have the following profiles and mobility characteristics: median age, 34 years; median completed school level, Standard 3; median time spent working for forest contractors and grower companies, 2 and 7 years, respectively (contractors have been in the business for a median period of 7.5 years); and median labour turnover and absenteeism, 4 % and 6 %, respectively. The employee median daily wage is R24.00 and the budgeted employee training cost per year per employee is R41.40. There is a high level of occupational safety awareness amongst both the contractors and the employees and significantly high injury rates in forest harvesting. Contractors and staff from grower companies believe that the current and future forest harvesting technology depends on the type and nature of contracts between the grower companies and the harvesting contractors, backup services from machine suppliers, the exchange rates between the Rand and other major currencies and worker health linked to HIV/AIDS. The study shows that in forest harvesting, there is a need to develop approaches and business strategies to define and manage the workforce since it is the people and the technology that work together to generate results. The thesis concludes that, human skill and knowledge should form the base of an industry along with logic of systems or operations. The study challenges forest harvesting organisations to measure and integrate human capital and technology with business objectives. Thus, sustainability in forest harvesting in South Africa will depend on the ability of forest harvesting organisations to handle the human dimension and to develop/acquire, exploit and manage technology. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Tegnologie en die Mens: 'n Ontleding van technnology, die dinamika van uitkontrakteer en bosontginnings arbeid in Suid Afrika. M.Sc in Bosbou tesis, Universiteit van Stellenbosch, Suid Afrika. 124 bl. Tegnologie en die mensepotensiaal is van uiters belang in alle industrieë. Technologie moet toepasbaar wees en die mens moet van 'n geskikte gehalte wees met 'n paslike profiel. Hierdie proefskif focus op die tegnologie en die menslikehulpbron in bosontginning en evalueer Suid Afrikaanse Bosbou maatskappye se besluit om uit te kontrakteer. Dit bied metodes en modele aan om die menslikepotensiaal en tegnologie te evalueer en te verstaan. Die klem word geplaas op huidige en strategiese uitdagings in: diensvoorwaardes, beroepsgesondheid en -veiligheid, voiding, opleiding, arbeidersdinamika (arbeidsafwesigheid en -omset) en tegnologie in bosontginning. Hierdie studie plaas verdere klem op die ondersoek en begrip van die interaksie tussen bosbou maatskappy en kontrakteur (b.v. kontrakteur's filosofie, profiel van kontrakteurs en mededingende strategie) en om die bosbou maatskappye se besluit, om oor te skakel na kontrakteurs, te evalueer. Laasgenoemde, is van uiter belang, aangesien dit die fondament en raamwerk daarstel waarom die kontrakteurs se besigheid ontwikkel en dit gee agtergrond tot die dinamika van beide die mens en die tegnologie. Die grootste gedeelte van die arbeid in diens van die Suid Afrikaanse bosbou industrie het daarop gewys dat hulle slegs in die industrie werk omdat daar nie ander werksgeleenthede beskikbaar is nie. Kenmerke aspekte van die arbeidersmag in die Suid Afrika se bosbou industrie is die volgende: middellyn vir ouderdom - 34 jaar; middellyn vir skool qualifikasies - standard 3; middellyn vir dienstydperk by bosbou kontrakteurs - 2 jaar, en by bosboumaatskappy - 7 jaar (middellyn vir tydperk as kontakteur - 7.5 jaar); arbeidsomset en -afweesigheidis 4 % en 6 %, onderskeidelik. Daaglikse arbeidsloon is R24.00 en die begrotte opleidingskoste is R41.40 per arbeider per jaar. Beroepsveiligheid geniet 'n hoë vlak van bewustheid by beide die kontrakteurs en arbeiders. Kontrakteurs en maatskappy bestuurders glo dat die huidige en toekomstige tegnologiese ontwikkeling afhanklik is van die aard van kontrakte, ondersteuning en diens van verskaffers, die wisselkoers en arbeiders se gesondheid (gekoppel aan HIVNIGS). Aangesien die mens en tegnologie gesamentlik bydra tot werksproduksie, bestaan daar 'n behoefde in bosonginning vir die ontwikkeling van naderings en besigheids strategieë om die bestuur van mense en tegnologie te defineer. Die werkstuk beslis dat die menslike kennis en vermoeë, saam met logika van stelsels of activiteite, die fondament van die industie daarstel. Bosontginnings maatskappye word aangespoor om die gebruik van tegnologie te ondersoek, en die menslike hulpbron en tegnologie te meet en met die maatskappy se doelstelling te integreer. Ten slotte, die standhoudenheid van bosonginning in Suid Afrika sal afhang van die vermoeë van bosontginnings maaskappye om die menslike dimensie korrek te kan bestuur en om tegnologie effektief te ontwikkel (of aan te koop), te gebruik en te bestuur.

If you cannot measure, you cannot manage. This is an age old saying, but still very true, especially within the current South African cybercrime scene and the ever-growing Internet footprint. Due to the significant increase in cybercrime across the globe, information security specialists are starting to see the intrinsic value of logs that can ‘tell a story’. Logs do not only tell a story, but also provide a tool to measure a normally dark force within an organisation. The collection of current logs from installed systems, operating systems and devices is imperative in the event of a hacking attempt, data leak or even data theft, whether the attempt is successful or unsuccessful. No logs mean no evidence, and in many cases not even the opportunity to find the mistake or fault in the organisation’s defence systems. Historically, it remains difficult to choose what logs are required by your organization. A number of questions should be considered: should a centralised or decentralised approach for collecting these logs be followed or a combination of both? How many events will be collected, how much additional bandwidth will be required and will the log collection be near real time? How long must the logs be saved and what if any hashing and encryption (integrity of data) should be used? Lastly, what system must be used to correlate, analyse, and make alerts and reports available? This thesis will address these myriad questions, examining the current lack of log analysis, practical implementations in modern organisation, and also how a need for the latter can be fulfilled by means of a basic approach. South African organizations must use technology that is at hand in order to know what electronic data are sent in and out of their organizations network. Concentrating only on FreeBSD PF firewall logs, it is demonstrated within this thesis the excellent results are possible when logs are collected to obtain a visual display of what data is traversing the corporate network and which parts of this data are posing a threat to the corporate network. This threat is easily determined via a visual interpretation of statistical outliers. This thesis aims to show that in the field of corporate data protection, if you can measure, you can manage.

Thesis (PhD(For))--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / The subtropical ecosystem of the Zululand coastal plain is prized by the South African commercial plantation forestry industry for its rapid clonal Eucalyptus growth, short rotations (6 to 7 years) and high yields. This region is typified by sandy soils that are low in clay and organic matter, have small nutrient reserves and are poorly buffered against nutrient loss. The subtropical climate induces rapid decomposition of residues and tree litter resulting in small litter nutrient pools and rapid nutrient release into the soil, particularly after clearfelling. A combination of large nutrient demands through rapid growth, rapid nutrient turnover and small soil nutrient reserves implies that sites in this region are sensitive and may be at risk of nutrient decline under intensive management. The work in this study set out to determine the risk of nutrient depletion through harvesting and residue management on a site within the Zululand region, to assess nutritional sustainability and the risk of yield decline in successive rotations. Some bulk biogeochemical cycling processes of macro-nutrients nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) were assessed, and assessments also included sodium (Na). An existing Eucalyptus stand was clearfelled and treatments were imposed on the residues after broadcasting to simulate various levels of nutrient loss through levels of harvesting intensity and residue management. These included residue burning (Burn), residue retention (No-Burn), fertilisation (stem wood nutrient replacement), whole tree harvesting and residue doubling. Outer blocks of the stand were not felled, but included as replicates of an undisturbed standing crop treatment. Biogeochemical nutrient cycling processes were assessed primarily in the standing crop, Burn and No-Burn treatments, in the assumption that these represented the furthest extremes of nutrient loss. Data collection commenced a year prior to clearfelling and continued to two years and six months after planting with key data collection over a 20.1 month period from clearfelling to canopy closure (one year after planting). Water related nutrient pools and fluxes were assessed as atmospheric deposition (bulk rainfall, throughfall and stemflow) and gravitational leaching to 1m soil depth. Drainage fluxes were predicted using the Hydrus model and real-time soil moisture data. Zero tension lysimeters collected soil solution for chemical analysis. Sequential coring in the 0 to 30cm soil layer was used to determine in situ soil N mineralisation. Soil chemical and physical properties were assessed over the first meter of soil at clearfelling and new crop canopy closure to determine soil nutrient pools sizes. Biomass nutrient fluxes were assessed from litterfall, residue and litter decomposition, and above ground accretion into the tree biomass. Leaching and N mineralisation were monitored in the No-Burn, Burn and standing crop treatments only. Atmospheric deposition, while variable, was shown to be responsible for large quantities of nutrients added to the Eucalyptus stand. Nitrogen and K additions were relatively high, but within ranges reported in previous studies. Rapid tree canopy expansion and subsequent soil water utilisation in the standing crop permitted little water to drain beyond 1m resulting in small leaching losses despite a sandy well drained soil. Further leaching beyond this depth was unlikely under the conditions during the study period. Mineralisation and immobilisation of N also remained low with net immobilisation occurring. The standing crop was shown to be a relatively stable system that, outside of extreme climatic events, had a relatively balanced or positive nutrient budget (i.e. nutrient inputs minus outputs). Large quantities of nutrients were removed with stem-wood-only harvesting in the No-Burn treatment leaving substantial amounts on the soil surface in the harvest residues. Whole tree removal increased losses of all nutrients resulting in the largest losses of P and base cations compared to all other treatments. This was mostly due to high nutrient concentrations in the removed bark. Loss of N in the Burn treatment exceeded whole tree N losses through combustion of N held in the harvest residues and litter layer. The majority of K leached from the residues prior to burning and a relatively small fraction of the base cations were lost from the partially decomposed residues during burning. Ash containing substantial amounts of Ca and relatively large amounts of N and Mg remained after burning. Surface soil Ca and Mg was significantly increased by the ash which moved into the soil with rainfall directly after burning. Rapid soil moisture recharge occurred within a few months after clearfelling, increasing leaching from the upper 50cm of soil. Clearfelling increased net N mineralisation rates, increasing mobile NO3-N ions in the soil surface layers. Nitrate concentration peaked and K concentration dipped in the upper soil layers of the Burn treatment directly after burning. Deep drainage and leaching (beyond 1m depth) over the 20.1 month period was, however, not significantly different between the Burn and No-Burn treatments. Rapid soil moisture depletion and nutrient uptake with new crop growth reduced leaching fluxes to levels similar to the standing crop by six months after planting. Taking the full rotation into account, clearfelling induced a short-lived spike in N and cation leaching compared with the low leaching losses in the undisturbed standing crop. Soil N mineralisation over the 20.1 month period in the burnt treatment was half that of the No-Burn treatment. Growth and nutrient accumulation was significantly higher in the fertilised treatment than in other treatments up to 2.5 years of age. Growth in the Burn treatment was greatest compared to other treatments during the first few months, but slowed thereafter. No significant growth differences were found between all other treatments from a year to 2.5 years after planting. Early growth was therefore apparently not limited by N supply despite large differences in N mineralisation between Burn and No-Burn. Foliar vector analysis indicated that fertilisation improved growth initially through increased foliar N and P at six months after planting followed by Mg and Ca at one year. The Burn treatment was not nutrient limited. These growth results contrasted with similar international research on sandy tropical sites where growth was reduced after residue removal and increased after residue doubling. The combined nutrients released from pools in the litter layer or ash and soil in addition to atmospheric inputs were sufficient to provide most nutrients required to maintain similar growth rates across all treatments. This demonstrated the importance of residue derived nutrients to early growth nutrient supply. Reduced N mineralisation through a lack of substrate may limit N supply later in the rotation where residue had been removed. Construction of a nutrient budget for the system revealed that high levels of atmospheric inputs have the potential to partially replenish a large proportion N, K, and Ca lost during clearfelling, provided losses are constrained to stemwood removal only. However, loss of Mg that occurred primarily through leaching may not be replaced under the low Mg inputs recorded in this study. Larger nutrient removals (i.e. stemwood plus other plant parts) placed a heavier reliance on the small soil nutrient pools at this site which can limit future productivity. More intense harvesting and residue management practices dramatically increased the risk of nutrient depletion. Losses of specific nutrients depended on a combination of clearfelling biomass removal, residue burning and subsequent leaching. Nitrogen losses due to harvesting and burning were more substantial than those due to leaching. Mg and K losses depended most strongly on the time after clearfelling before re-establishment of the new crop and rainfall patterns, while Ca and P losses depended directly on the amount of biomass removed. Depletion risk was the greatest for Mg and K through rapid leaching, even after stem wood only removal. Deep root uptake and deep drainage with associated cation loss needs to be investigated further to quantify ecosystem losses and recovery of cations displaced beyond 1m. Atmospheric deposition is one of major factors countering nutrient losses. However, atmospheric inputs may not be reliable as these may lessen in future through pollution control legislation and climate change. Changes in growth rate under poor nutrient management practices are small and difficult to detect relative to the large impacts of changing weather patterns (drought), wildfire and pest and disease. This makes it difficult to prove nutrient related growth decline. It may be possible that improvements in genetics, silvicultural technologies and atmospheric inputs may also be masking site decline (in general) and in part explain the lack of evidence of a growth reduction in the region. As the poorly buffered sandy soils on the Zululand Coast are at risk of nutrient depletion under the short rotation, high productivity stands, it may be necessary to stipulate more conservative harvesting and residue management practices. A more conservative stem-wood only harvesting regime is recommended, retaining all residues on site. Residue burning should be avoided if N losses become a concern. The length of the inter-rotation period must be kept short to reduce cation leaching losses. Site nutrient pools need to be monitored and cations may eventually need to be replenished through application of fertilisers or ash residues from pulp mills. Management practices therefore need to be chosen based on the specific high risk nutrients in order to maintain a sustainable nutrient supply to current and future plantation grown Eucalyptus.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Master of Technology: Environmental Health, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2016. / Work related injuries are of major public importance and have adverse economic and social impacts. Forestry work is one of the most hazardous occupations worldwide and accounts for a large proportion of occupational injuries. Employers frequently train workers in the proper and safe use of equipment, however the efficacy of these programmes are seldom rigorously evaluated. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of health and safety training in reducing injuries among forestry workers in Kwa-Zulu Natal. A descriptive study was conducted among 300 Kwa-Zulu Natal harvesting contract workers. A questionnaire to assess the efficiency of health and safety training was administered. A retrospective review of the injury register and medical records of employees who sustained work related injuries, fatalities during 2009–2013 was done. The company injury data for harvesting contractors from 2009- 2013 reported 3 fatalities and 68 lost time injuries during post commencement of training. About 23.3% workers reported injuries during the study period. Slip, trip and fall injuries were the most reported cause of injuries. Almost 95% of respondents reported that they had received health and safety training at work, with 84% reporting satisfaction with the quality of training received. A decreased prevalence of work related injuries was reported post training. The health and safety program was successful in increasing workers awareness and responsibility of health and safety issues. On- going specific job training, sustained work place inspections and adult learning for supervisors will improve health and safety of workers and reduce injuries in the forestry industry. / M