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Did government mines inspectors in late Victorian Britain display overt bias towards employers when assigning blame for fatal underground explosions? Inspectors were closer to managers and coal owners than they were to miners or mine supervisors in terms of status, background, and engineering experience. That inspectors had more in common with management could have led to favouritism or regulatory capture, as was suggested at the time by miners and more recently by historians. To adjudicate these claims, this article applies the technique of qualitative content analysis to the comments of mines inspectors in their published annual reports. The findings reveal that inspectors frequently condemned employers and their representatives, especially after gas and coal dust explosions that took 10 or more lives. By contrast, following blasting explosions, which typically killed only one person, they usually blamed the miners themselves. The available evidence therefore suggests that any discernible pro-employer bias on the part of the inspectorate was limited to smaller explosions where it was easier to ignore systemic factors and deem individual workmen to be at fault. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Team case formulation on acute psychiatric wards aims to support staff to manage significant levels of challenging behaviour. However, there is limited research on staff experience of case formulation in this setting. This study aimed to investigate staff experience of team case formulation sessions on acute psychiatric wards and their impact on staff wellbeing. Eighteen multidisciplinary staff (nurses, doctors, occupational therapists, support workers, activities coordinators) from five acute wards at a South London psychiatric hospital completed a semi-structured interview and visual analogue scales on their experience of attending case formulation. Thematic analysis was employed to analyse qualitative data. Participants reported that case formulation supported staff to develop a holistic understanding of service users, provided a safe space for staff to discuss the impact of challenging behaviour and improved teamwork and communication. Participants reported that these benefits increased their ability to identify and support the needs of service users and improved therapeutic relationships. Challenges with establishing continuity of care were highlighted. Team case formulation is an important intervention to support ward staff and has significant benefits to staff wellbeing and quality of care. Greater integration with existing ward practices may benefit both staff and service users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Construction is a high-risk industry, and worker capability has been identified as a contributing factor to construction accidents. However, many construction workers do not receive adequate safety training, leading to a lack of knowledge and skill. Effective training programs are essential to increase workers' safety competence and reduce accidents. Trainings facilitated by emerging visualization technologies (VT) are gaining attention due to their participatory nature and high engagement, which are missing components in traditional classroom-based safety training. This study explored the opportunities for adopting VT in safety training to improve employee training outcomes. Interviews were conducted with construction professionals in the U.S. and U.K., who had experience with safety training. The participants identified a number of training opportunities that would be appropriate for adopting VT. Interviewees valued VT for its technological versatility and positive impact on safety behavior, and they identified challenges in using VT related to cost, nature of technology, organizational barriers, and industry culture. The findings suggest the construction industry is still in the early stage of applying VT in safety training but many potential opportunities for using VT warrant further exploration. The implications point to the need to bridge academic research and its practical application to support VT's adoption in industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the limitations to Contingency Measures, and offers Reflections from COVID-19 Surges in the Grate Britain. Topics discussed include the authors provides a helpful framework for reflecting on the experiences of healthcare staff during COVID-19 to develop a more robust contingency phase; and the government's strategy was to keep case load manageably within the capacity of the National Health Service (NHS).

Do accidents where users are injured or killed by unsafe products reveal underlying weaknesses in the safety culture of the responsible organisations? While manufacturing firms have long been concerned with organizational culture factors that relate to product quality, there has been much less attention to the relationship with consumer safety. Product safety culture can be defined as the attitudes, norms, beliefs and behaviours of staff in manufacturing organisations that affect the integrity of a product in relation to the well-being of its users. There has been limited research into this type of safety culture, with the exception of several studies from the food industry. This exploratory study in one large company adopted a qualitative approach to identify the dimensions of product safety culture in the manufacture of engineered products. Study 1 consisted of phone interviews (8 managers, 2 workforce). Study 2 was on two UK manufacturing sites where interviews and focus groups were conducted (46 participants in total: 7 managers, 39 workforce). The transcriptions were coded using inductive thematic analysis to identify the main components of product safety culture. The findings indicated six principal dimensions: management commitment to product safety, communication, safety systems, trust, understanding of safety systems and product safety ethic. The first five dimensions are well-established components of culture relating to worker and process safety. The last dimension appears to be a distinctive component (compared to other types of safety culture) relating to an employee's moral and ethical stance toward product safety, where user well-being is considered during product manufacture. This ethical component is a more novel feature which suggests that fostering concern for unknown product users may be an additional facet of product safety culture worth investigating in the effort to reduce the risks to consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conducted 3 studies to investigate how poor quality sleep relates to work injuries. First, using a sample of employed people living in the United Kingdom (N = 4,238; Study 1), we found that poor quality sleep was related to more frequent workplace injuries via negative affect rather than cognitive failures. Second, we again compared parallel pathways using a sample of USA employees (N = 202; Study 2): poor quality sleep was related to more frequent work injuries via work-related negative affect but not work-related cognitive failures. Third, we used a 2-wave sample of employees from the United Kingdom (N = 71; Study 3) finding that poor quality sleep was related to more frequent work injuries 7 weeks later via negative affect. Comparing high arousal and low arousal negative affect as competing pathways showed that there was a significant indirect effect of the former on the poor quality sleep-work injuries relationship but not the latter. Across 3 studies, we implicated the role of self-control failure stemming from poor quality sleep in predicting more frequent work injuries and suggested initiatives targeting high arousal negative affect as a way of reducing work injuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first discussions relating to the regulation of recombinant DNA technology in the UK occurred in 1970, and were independent of similar discussions happening in the US from 1973. UK regulatory authorities were differently motivated by the range of concerns around risk posed by the new technology. UK authorities implemented a framework that was informed by a specific culture that had roots in scientific and laboratory work practices. The paper reflects on the early close relationships between UK biotechnology industry and university laboratory spaces, and the central concern around laboratory safety and workers rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) were reported in Wuhan, China in December 2019. Globally millions of people have been diagnosed with the virus whilst thousands have died. As the virus kept spreading health and social care frontline workers (HSCFW) were faced with difficulties when discharging their duties. This paper was set out to explore the challenges faced by different frontline workers in health and social care during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research utilized an explorative qualitative approach. A total of forty (N = 40) in-depth one-to-one semi-structured interviews were undertaken with HSCFW who included support workers (n = 15), nurses (n = 15), and managers (N = 10). Health and social care workers were drawn from domiciliary care and care homes (with and without nursing services). All the interviews were done online. The data were thematically analyzed, and the emergent themes were supported by quotes from the interviews held with participants. Following data analysis the research study found that lack of pandemic preparedness, shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), anxiety and fear amongst professionals, challenges in enforcing social distancing, challenges in fulfilling social shielding responsibility, anxiety and fear amongst residents and service users, delay in testing, evolving PPE guidance and shortage of staff were challenges faced by frontline health and social care workers during COVID-19 pandemic. The results of the current study point to a need for adequate pandemic preparedness within the health and social care sector to protect both frontline workers and the individuals they look after. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last 15 years has witnessed a surge in rail-related human factors research but little has examined the Track Worker role. Track work often takes place whilst trains are running under the protection of Lookouts who provide warning of approaching trains. Despite—or perhaps because of—these measures, there is a notable prevalence of incidents involving Lookouts, warranting a closer look at the nature of their task and the wider sociotechnical system (STS) to identify what may be learned for railway safety management. A systematic review of incident reports involving Lookouts was undertaken on Australian and UK rail incidents from 2006 to mid-2018 with a qualitative meta-analysis (n = 31) revealing nine factors corresponding with STS dimensions at the organisational, social, task and individual level. Much of the risk lay in the set up and implementation of Lookout working, and in Track Worker group dynamics—factors endemic to working whilst trains are running—rather than specific to the Lookout, with such factors arguably applicable across other Track Worker groups. Findings point to a need for more targeted research into the STS aspects of track working, as well as improving the training and/or procedures of those managing the Lookout protection system of work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the British view regarding safety issues in nuclear power plants, based from the paper presented to the Norwegian Atomic Energy Society. According to the author, all activities involve some risk of harm to people either through direct participation or indirectly. However, it is hoped that the risks will be minimized and more than compensated for by attendant advantages. Thus, minimum performance requirements for a large range of plant used may be able to reduce accident frequencies to levels below a pre-set target. Moreover, the British Atomic Energy Authority is sponsoring and developing techniques for the better understanding of reactor accidents and their consequences.

The construction industry is dangerous, with 39 fatalities at work in the UK in 2012/13 and comparable and even larger figures reported worldwide. People also take part in construction on a voluntary basis; most volunteers have limited training and no technical qualification, whilst safety regulation frameworks range from being comparable to professional sectors to zero regulation in some international contexts. Unstructured interviews were undertaken with volunteer construction workers from two areas: those returning from international development projects and those regularly volunteering on UK heritage railways. Taking a social constructionist perspective, data was explored using discourse analysis to illuminate ‘safety’ within this unique construction ‘industry’. Those with engineering or technical backgrounds developed more tangible constructions of safety, around risks and hazards, within their activities, yet volunteers without this experience also acknowledged a wider context of danger. Volunteers on overseas projects developed discourses of ‘difference’ between safety at home and safety outside the UK, associated with negative practices overseas yet with acceptance of their inevitability as part of the voluntary experience. Further work is proposed to determine whether these insights can contribute to improved safety management within the voluntary construction context. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores the concept of workplace organisation and the role of safety. Specifically, the objectives of the study were to identify the role of safety within 5S and to test how the extension of the method (to 6S) can explicitly and effectively integrate safety with productivity and quality. An action research approach enabled the development, execution and data collection of a 6S method at a manufacturing company located within the UK. The 6S method was developed based on results from early experiments with 5S and a critical review of the literature. The research was conducted using a five-phase framework: 6S concept development; 6S process development; recording 6S quantitative data; 6S improvement activities and recognition; and 6S success measurement. The results of this study show a visible productive change in different work areas of the case organisation along with creating a safer work environment for both employees and visitors. The testing of the 6S method achieved tangible results in relation to productivity, efficiency and safety, which included: improved housekeeping; improved usage of floor space; good visual management and control; and a safer environment supported by a systematic approach. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Local, tacit and normally unspoken OHS (occupational health and safety) knowledge and practices can too easily be excluded from or remain below the industry horizon of notice, meaning that they remain unaccounted for in formal OHS policy and practice. In this article we stress the need to more systematically and routinely tap into these otherwise ‘hidden’ communication channels, which are central to how everyday safe working practices are achieved. To demonstrate this approach this paper will draw on our ethnographic research with a gang of migrant curtain wall installers on a large office development project in the north of England. In doing so we reflect on the practice-based nature of learning and sharing OHS knowledge through examples of how workers’ own patterns of successful communication help avoid health and safety problems. These understandings, we argue, can be advanced as a basis for the development of improved OHS measures, and of organizational knowing and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extended parallel process model (EPPM) proposes fear appeals are most effective when they combine threat and efficacy. Three studies conducted in the workplace safety context examine the use of various EPPM factors and their effects, especially multiplicative effects. Study 1 was a content analysis examining the use of EPPM factors in actual workplace safety messages. Study 2 experimentally tested these messages with 212 construction trainees. Study 3 replicated this experiment with 1,802 men across four English-speaking countries—Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The results of these three studies (1) demonstrate the inconsistent use of EPPM components in real-world work safety communications, (2) support the necessity of self-efficacy for the effective use of threat, (3) show a multiplicative effect where communication effectiveness is maximized when all model components are present (severity, susceptibility, and efficacy), and (4) validate these findings with gory appeals across four English-speaking countries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The occurrence of accidents and injuries continues to be a major problem in construction worldwide. Even though accident statistics have been improving in most markets there are significant areas requiring further attention. The extent of integrated working between designers and constructors may be an instrumental factor. A comparison is undertaken of the accident performance of 55 large construction projects in the UK, with varying levels of design/construction integration as represented by procurement path. Although a statistical relationship between high levels of integration and low levels of accidents was weak, a follow-up interview study provided strong support, suggesting that a lack of significance was related to the unreliability of the statistics available. The interview study also indicated reasons for this link. A key element in improved safety was seen to be better communications and a more positive relationship between designers and constructors. Further research into designing for safety for all procurement paths is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Workplace transport risks remain the second largest cause of work-related fatal and major injuries in the UK. In the period 2004–2005, of the 5,427 workplace transport injuries, 68 were fatal and industrial lift trucks were associated with 24% of accidents. This study aimed to quantify risk perceptions and attitudes of lift truck operators for workplace transport risks and to ascertain opinions on common accidents, risk factors, and control measures. The cross-sectional study design with a postal questionnaire collected data in a population of lift truck operators (n = 140). Questions related to training and experience; perception of risks; safety attitudes, awareness, and knowledge; and safety responsibility. A response rate of 61% (n = 86) indicated lift truck operators had a high perception of workplace transport risks. Common lift truck incidents were considered “very serious” while respondents demonstrated a good knowledge of accident risk factors and control measures. Greater support was called for from employers and regulatory authorities to improve workplace safety. Recommendations include future safety initiatives for lift truck operators. These may be useful to organisations and enforcing authorities charged with safety obligations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the sixty years that followed the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the Royal Navy underwent the transition from wood and sail to steam and iron. The impact that this had on the health of workers in the Royal Dockyards has been neglected by historians. In this article, records from the medical department at Portsmouth Royal Dockyard are used to demonstrate that the nature and causes of physical injuries sustained by dockworkers changed as a result of this transition. It is also shown that the environment of the dockyards became more hazardous to health. More broadly, this study suggests that the Royal Dockyards warrant inclusion in historical debates about industrialisation and the formation of welfare states; and in analyses concerned with the development of local healthcare provision in the nineteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the development and use of the monetary valuation of road safety in Great Britain. The most important component of the benefit of improving road safety is the prevention of casualties. The valuation of the prevention of casualties is based on the “willingness-to-pay” approach, which was adopted for the prevention of fatalities in 1988 and for injuries in 1992. The major applications of monetary valuations of road safety are first in the general appraisal of new or improved roads, and second in the appraisal of specific road safety measures. Road casualty valuations are also sometimes used as benchmarks in other contexts, such as on other transport modes and in industrial safety. Accident savings are an important but minority component of the benefits of new or improved roads; however, specific local road accident remedial measures bring exceptionally high rates of return, typically paying for themselves in accident savings in less than a year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Approaches to planning for health and safety in the UK construction industry have been criticised for being bureaucratic and irrelevant, especially if done by individuals in isolation. This paper reports on the findings of a research project, commissioned by the UK Health and Safety Executive, which investigated the integration of health and safety with construction project planning. A combination of group and individual interviews were undertaken, with qualitative methods of analysis, to develop integrated management tools for all members of the project team. Eight integrated tools were developed: a responsibility chart; an option evaluation chart; health and safety hazard workshops; safety information on drawings; red-amber-green lists; health and safety milestones on programmes; and a design change control process. These were found to aid project planning while simultaneously integrating health and safety issues. However, recommendations are given on how their application can be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the diversity of business history and related periodical literature in Great Britain from 2005 to 2007. The author focuses on the international banking and financial business sectors of business. Contributing factors, including corporate governance, industrial relations, and trade, are examined. Europeanization is discussed. Studies related to corporate social responsibility, occupational safety, as well as a study comparing the business history of the U.S. to that of Great Britain are also mentioned.

This paper compares the findings of two studies, conducted in 1998 and 2004, of academic staff in British universities. It examines the stability over time of working hours, specific work stressors and levels of psychological distress. Comparisons are also made between the levels of psychological distress currently reported by academic staff and those reported by other professional groups and the general population in the UK. Finally, the paper assesses the extent to which UK universities are meeting minimum health and safety at work standards for the management of job stressors. The findings indicate that: there has been little change in the levels of most stressors experienced over the six year period; the high levels of psychological distress found in the 1998 study are undiminished and exceed those of other professional groups and the population generally; the majority of the health and safety at work standards are not met. Possible implications of these findings for the quality of UK higher education are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This study compares UK and Norwegian offshore workers' evaluations of social and organizational factors that can have an impact upon safety on offshore installations. A total of 1138 Norwegian (87% response rate) and 622 UK workers (40% response rate) responded to a self-completion questionnaire, which was distributed to 18 installations in February/March 1994. The questionnaire contained six scales that were suitable and relevant for the purposes of comparison. These scales measured 'risk perception', 'satisfaction with safety measures', 'perceptions of the job situation', 'attitudes to safety', 'perceptions of others' commitment to safety' and 'perceptions of social support'. The data show clear differences in how UK and Norwegian workers evaluate various social and organizational factors that can have an impact upon safety, however, eta 2 analysis indicated that for most of the scales 'installation' explained a greater percentage of the variance than sector. The exceptions to this were scales measuring 'safety attitudes' where both sector and installation contributed equally to the effects. Although the results from the 'safety attitudes' scales should be interpreted with caution (due to low internal reliability), it is possible that they are tapping into more deeply held beliefs about the nature of safety, e.g. 'fatalism' and the 'causes of accidents'. In contrast, the other scales are measuring factors directly related to the working environment such as perceptions of risk and satisfaction with safety measures on the installation. These may reflect the prevailing 'safety climate' or 'atmosphere' on the installations surveyed, whereas constructs such as 'fatalism', etc. may be reflections of underlying 'cultural' values. Recognizing the existence of different 'safety cultures' and understanding the processes which lie behind them could have implications for safety management in an industry which is highly international in nature and in which workers' are often required to work in foreign countries for varying periods of time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As occupational health psychology matures, it will become involved in a more detailed way in areas of specific concern, and it will outgrow its recent over-dependence on a small number of very general concerns such as work stress and burnout. One example of an area of potential interest and opportunity is that afforded by rail safety. This paper discusses the position in Britain. It outlines the history and nature of safety management in the rail industry following privatisation in the 1990s. It then describes recent changes in safety thinking that could represent a mini-paradigm shift and that open the door to the more active involvement of occupational health psychologists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the institutional factors that shape regulatory officials' perceptions of risks to human health and safety and their attitudes towards associated regulation. In particular, the paper considers the extent to which the perceptions of risk and regulation of officials responsible for monitoring and enforcement are aligned with regulatory requirements, and, if not, what factors explain those perceptions. Moreover, the paper considers the impact of officials' perceptions and attitudes on policy processes and outcomes. Empirically, the paper considers three UK risk regulation regimes: occupational exposure to radon, chemical migration from plastics food packaging and BSE related controls on specified bovine offal. Analysis of those cases suggests that conventional accounts that contrast ‘rational’ bureaucratic expertise against ‘irrational’ lay perspectives can miss the institutional ‘irrationalities’ that shape officials' perceptions of risk and associated behaviour. In particular, the paper suggests that complex risk regulation regimes are vulnerable to a phenomenon of ‘institutional attenuation’. That term refers to institutional processes that serve to diminish inspectors' perceptions or awareness of a risk, and/or diminish inspectors' perceptions of the policy importance of associated regulations. Furthermore, the paper shows how such institutional attenuation can contribute to ineffective monitoring and enforcement of some risk regulation regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of ‘food scares’ over the past decade in Europe have generated considerable debate about public understandings of food risk, and the extent to which such understandings impact on decision making. This paper reports on a focus group study of how UK consumers discuss choosing safe food. Strategies for making food choices were, in general, characterised by confidence rather than anxiety. Although concerned in an abstract way with the safety of food and how it was monitored, ‘risk’ and ‘safety’ were rarely the primary discursive framework used for justifying food choices. Other discourses, such as health, naturalness, economy and convenience, competed with, overlapped with or were legitimated by that of ‘risk’. However, everyday decision making was presented as a routine endeavour, aided by a number of ‘short cuts’ or rules of thumb for establishing food choices as routine and unremarkable. These short cuts divided safe from risky categories of food, but also divided preferred from despised foodstuffs in relation to other food discourses. Rules of thumb provided useful rhetorical devices for routinising accounts of food choice. In practice, however, rules of thumb are reported as being utilised in complex and contingent ways. They thus provide a sophisticated bulwark against the uncertainties of food risks when events (such as the media concern over BSE) threaten everyday trust in routine decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case study concerns a company, operating within a highly sensitive industry, which needs to adopt new planning and control procedures along with performance measures in order to ensure its long term survival. The case explores the characteristics of the UK funeral industry, and the impact of the incursion of large overseas companies on the operation of small family businesses. Porter's (1980) Competitive Strategy framework provides a vehicle for the analysis of generic strategies to secure competitive advantage when cost leadership is not a practical possibility. Product diversification and niche marketing are explored in a Teaching Note to a rewarding case, but one which may raise the emotional sensitivity of subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper, which focuses on the impact of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994 on the management of small building works, adds new data and analysis to the further development of a subset of findings from a major research study, supported by governmental and industry based sources, which investigated the efficiency and effectiveness of procurement methods, organizational systems and management approaches to small building works and minor maintenance projects. Within this industry subsector there has been and continues to be an apparent culture of misunderstanding in the application of the CDM Regulations. However, commonly such works are undertaken in active environments where buildings are occupied or are operational. This raises many issues and considerations which are key to the satisfactory implementation of the CDM Regulations. The application of the Regulations is examined explicitly in the context of managing small building works. The findings indicate that the CDM Regulations have left ambiguities, primarily through specified exclusions to application, through which health and safety responsibilities may be downplayed or even simply disregarded. Effective implementation of the CDM Regulations during the management of small building works requires that legislation be unambiguously translated into contract documentation, and also that there must be clear understanding by project participants of their committed and onerous responsibilities for project health and safety under the CDM Regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of human and organizational factors in predicting accidents and incidents has become of major interest to the UK offshore oil and gas industry. Some of these factors had been measured in an earlier study focusing on the role of risk perception in determining accident involvement. The current study sought to extend the methodology by focusing on perceptions of organizational factors that could have an impact on safety. A self-report questionnaire was developed and distributed to 11 installations operating on the UK Continental Shelf. A total of 722 were returned (33% response rate) from a representative sample of the offshore workforce on these installations. The study investigated the underlying structure and content of offshore employees' attitudes to safety, feelings of safety and satisfaction with safety measures. Correlations and step-wise regression analysis were used to test the relationships between measures. The results suggest that 'unsafe' behaviour is the 'best' predictor of accidents/near misses as measured by self-report data and that unsafe behaviour is, in turn, driven by perceptions of pressure for production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates workers' demand function for job safety using the British General Household Survey data. The estimation employs Rosen's two-stage procedure. The main difference between our study and those done in the past is that we estimate hedonic price equations with data sets from two labour markets. Our approach overcomes the usual identification problems associated with the application of Rosen's method. The estimation shows that there is a significant wage compensation for job risk in the UK. The willingness-to-pay for a 1/100 000 decrease of annual job fatal accident rate from our estimated workers' demand function is about #6 in 1973 prices. The estimation of a demand function for safety also enables the derivation of workers' willingness-to-pay for non-marginal change of job risk, and this can be used for cost-benefit analysis on projects involving such non-marginal changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The size effect in the UK stock market is re-examined using the methodology of Roll (1983). Roll demonstrated that estimation of the small firm premium is critically dependent on the method of computation because of serial correlation induced by thin trading. He found that mean returns computed on a buy-and-hold basis is significantly lower than that computed on the assumption of frequent rebalancing. Roll did not consider risk-adjusted returns. The estimation of risk-adjusted returns is examined, using trade-to-trade betas which avoid thin trading bias. Consistent with Roll's hypothesis, the results show that mean buy-and-hold abnormal returns is not only lower than that of a rebalanced portfolio, but is also not statistically significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structural characteristics of the Hong Kong construction industry, most notably its elaborate system of subcontracting and the casual basis on which labour is employed, pose serious problems for safety managers. By International standards, Hong Kong's construction industry performs very badly in the area of safety. Recent work in the UK and Finland highlights the effectiveness of behavioural techniques to improve safety performance on construction sites. Work is currently under way to test technique in the Hong Kong construction setting. The structural properties of the Hong Kong construction industry have been taken into consideration and labour commitments to the group and to the organization have been identified for additional consideration in research. It is expected that these variables will intervene in the application of behavioural techniques to determine their effectiveness. This paper investigates the theoretical background to commitment at the group and organizational level and presents a site-level research model which is illustrative of the possible effects that group and organizational level commitment may be found to have on the use of behavioural techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on the imposition of occupational health and safety legislation on college health setting in Great Britain. Examples of safety practices used by college health professions to protect individual members of staff involved in special areas of hazardous activity; Information on the outbreak of smallpox in the University of Birmingham; Impact of the legislation on campus health monitoring.

The author looks at occupational health and safety during the 1960s in Great Britain. He illustrates the open hearth furnaces at Lackenby, an area to the east of Middlesbrough, England which came into operation in 1952. He then discusses how the open hearth furnaces posed occupational health and safety risks, particularly in breakout cases. The current health and safety culture in Great Britain is described.

Reports on publications from the British Health and Safety Executive which deal on how to prevent occupational injuries and accidents.

Comments on the decision of the British Department of Transport to reject a survey it commissioned on safety valuation. Approaches to safety valuation; Consistency checks on the valuation approaches; Proposed calculations of the Department.