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BACKGROUND: Malnutrition is one of the principal causes of child mortality in developing countries including Bangladesh. According to our knowledge, most of the available studies, that addressed the issue of malnutrition among under-five children, considered the categorical (dichotomous/polychotomous) outcome variables and applied logistic regression (binary/multinomial) to find their predictors. In this study malnutrition variable (i.e. outcome) is defined as the number of under-five malnourished children in a family, which is a non-negative count variable. The purposes of the study are (i) to demonstrate the applicability of the generalized Poisson regression (GPR) model as an alternative of other statistical methods and (ii) to find some predictors of this outcome variable. METHODS: The data is extracted from the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) 2007. Briefly, this survey employs a nationally representative sample which is based on a two-stage stratified sample of households. A total of 4,460 under-five children is analysed using various statistical techniques namely Chi-square test and GPR model. RESULTS: The GPR model (as compared to the standard Poisson regression and negative Binomial regression) is found to be justified to study the above-mentioned outcome variable because of its under-dispersion (variance < mean) property. Our study also identify several significant predictors of the outcome variable namely mother's education, father's education, wealth index, sanitation status, source of drinking water, and total number of children ever born to a woman. CONCLUSIONS: Consistencies of our findings in light of many other studies suggest that the GPR model is an ideal alternative of other statistical models to analyse the number of under-five malnourished children in a family. Strategies based on significant predictors may improve the nutritional status of children in Bangladesh.

Work related stress (WRS) is a contributor to absence from work by workers in the construction industry. Whilst there has been research into WRS in the construction sector, there has been limited empirical research focussing on WRS amongst construction health and safety managers. This study therefore investigates the causes and impacts of work related stress amongst construction health and safety managers (CHSMs). A qualitative research strategy was used involving 8 semi-structured interviews with construction health and safety managers in the UK. Analysis of the data revealed the main causes of work related stress amongst CHSMs to include: travelling/commuting; long working hours; public speaking/presentations; the occurrence of an accident (e.g. fatality); too much paperwork; and work overload. Additionally, the main impacts of WRS include: impact on work performance; drinking alcohol; smoking; sleeplessness; impact on decision making; and impact on family. Whilst the findings, reflect issues of WRS similar to those reported in previous WRS studies in the construction industry, aspects also seem more prominent or pertinent to the role of the CHSM, particularly long commuting period as CHSMs often tend not to be based at a single site. Overall, the findings offer insights that could be useful to construction health and safety professionals as well as their employers, occupational safety and health professional bodies, and relevant industry stakeholders in providing appropriate WRS support for CHSMs and other professionals in the industry.

Design for occupational safety and health (DfOSH) is increasingly becoming prominent in construction. In the UK, DfOSH is a legal requirement under the Construction Design and Management Regulations 2015 (CDM 2015). Amongst other requirements, the CDM 2015 regulations require organisations to have the appropriate organisational capability in respect of occupational safety and (OSH), which is described as the policies, systems, resources and people an organisation has in place to set acceptable OSH standards and to ensure the standards are delivered. Regarding design firms, it is unclear within the academic literature which organisational attributes are important for ascertaining organisational DfOSH capability. This study sought to address this through two expert focus group discussions involving seven experienced construction, design and OSH professionals within the UK construction industry. The focus group discussions revealed that organisational attributes that determine organisational DfOSH capability include: design quality management; project review to capture lessons and improve; physical work resources that support design work and DfOSH; design risk management; company reputation/experience in project delivery; ability to innovate or to be creative in addressing OSH hazards in design; organisational leadership and strategy that promotes DfOSH within the organisation; design staff capability (i.e. skills, knowledge and experience); human resources development; information and communication technology (ICT) resources; and collaboration ability. These attributes could assist design firms to better understand their own DfOSH capability, and they could similarly help organisations that appoint design firms to understand design firms’ DfOSH capability.