The aim of this study is to determine the comprehension levels of safety signs with and without written aids among South African workers. Numerous studies on warnings and safety have identified certain factors that can influence the effectiveness of safety communications such as, individuals’ behavioural responses to safety messages as well as the impact of design features on safety information (Kline, Braun, Peterson & Silver, 1993). However, little research has explored the role that literacy plays in interpreting safety information, specifically in developing countries such as South Africa where illiteracy is common. Sixty structured interviews were conducted at the Johannesburg General Hospital, a locale which essentially everyone has equal public access to. Twelve randomly ordered safety signs were presented to participants upon which they were required to describe what they understood each safety sign meant. Varied education and literacy levels were evident however the majority of the sample had only received some level of high school education. Interestingly, of the twelve safety signs chosen for this study, only three safety signs (SS1, SS4 and SS7) were ‘acceptable’ according to ANSI Z535.3 (1991) and ISO’s 3864 (1984) criteria. Furthermore, results from this study suggest that there is a relationship between one’s level of education and the understanding of certain safety signs.

Food borne disease continues to be a significant public health concern. The increasing awareness of food borne illness intensifies the need for proper food safety education among food handlers. The objectives of this study were to develop bilingual (English/Spanish) food safety signs, to determine their comprehensibility and most effective delivery mechanism for presentation to food handlers. The food safety concepts developed into images were: cross-contamination, proper use of thermometer to check temperatures of foods, proper cooling of foods, and do not work with food if ill. The four food safety concepts were designed into three different formats: pictures and words (English/Spanish), pictures only, and lenticular (images that shift when viewed from different angles). The food safety signs were evaluated using forty-five individuals working in the food retail industry. The participants were divided into two groups according to native language (English/ Spanish). For comprehensibility of the food safety signs, 69% responses were noted as correct. The ranking of comprehensibility of the signs was: cross-contamination (93%), thermometer (84%), cooling (64%) and not working if ill (33%). A gap in the understanding of the two lowest scoring food safety concepts (cooling and ill) calls for food safety educational programs and materials that emphasize these concepts. Correct responses for sign presentation were as follows: pictures and words with (80%), pictures only (65%) and lenticular (62%). Comparison of three different formats indicated pictures with words as the most effective presentation. The results obtained can be used as the basics for designing effective food signage for food handlers. / Master of Science in Life Sciences

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This diploma thesis deal with analysis of current surveying methods of railway track spatial position of the track section located between Břeclav and Znojmo. At the beginning of the work there is described historical development of railway geodesy in our country and conditions of railway geodetic points field abroad. Further there are mentioned rules for measurement of railway point fields in the Czech Republic. In the following chapter you will find sub-stages of building railway point fields in track section with analysis of accuracy measurement and a proposal of prior accuracy of measurement for computing with the least square method. In the end of the thesis there is described a calculation of parameters spatial track geometry with the suggestion of computing service for uniform way of calculating partial stages of railway geodetic point field.