Canopic Jar with a Lead in the Form of a Baboons Head Article - 1

Canopic Jar with a Lead in the Form of a Baboons Head - Article Example The Baboon at the top of the canopic jar is linked with Nephthys who was a goddess that guided and protected Isis, her sister to bring together the different parts of Osiris’s body after he was killed and thrown into the Nile. A vital component of the mummy was a mask that resembled a headdress that was positioned over the crown of the frame that wrapped in linen. The mask had characteristically young-looking physical characteristics that were not supposed to demonstrate similarity to the departed but exhibit a perfect appearance of their presence in the life after death. This particular example possesses many typical features that are characteristic of these masks and it was made using cartonnage that is a material which is light in weight which is formed by coating layers of linen with plaster. The deific position of the person wearing it is symbolized by the skin which is gold-plated and the extension was used as a symbolism of the deific position of the person wearing it. The mask has a decorated collar with a gold-plated and winged scarab beetle on the head that was believed to promote the rebirth of the departed. The mask is believed to have been created between 332 and 30 BC and apart from linen and plaster that was used to make the mask, papyrus, pigment, and gold were also used. The dimensions of the mask are fourteen inches by ten and a half inches and the iconography of this mask is characteristically pharaonic where the wings and the sun disc that symbolize the scarab beetle that is linked to the rising and setting of the sun and therefore rebirth (Budge 185).

Business Function Integration Paper Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Business Function Integration Paper - Assignment Example This paper declares that the human resource department, for instance, is responsible for helping an organization attain some of its targets. This is by managing the employees in the firm, and dealing with issues that may rise in the organization. Human resource is linked directly to employees in a firm since it is responsible for how they behave and relate to each other. Professional behaviour creates a pleasant working environment for everyone, thus ensuring an organization’s exceptional performance. This essay makes a conclusion that if one department fails to achieve the targets that are present in the organization, then all the functional areas are bound to fail. This means that all of them need to work together. No one functional area is seen as being superior to another. The togetherness ensures that all of them work toward the organization’s goals. This also prevents conflict, in the long run. Conflict that may emanate from employees who might presumably think their functions in the organization are above others. It is vital for organizations to realise that, in order to achieve success, it is best they look for functional areas that best suit them. The integration of these areas may mean that they will be better placed to tackle issues that may arise. This enables an organization realise its main objectives, and maintain their place at the top. This integration will determine this, and it is through proper management that success will arise.

Written research assignment in subject Employee Relations

Written research in subject Employee Relations - Assignment Example Organizations need to prevent and resolve problems that arise while working. Every organization should ensure that they have an employee relations program that helps in increasing good morale and employee satisfaction. Additionally, one of the most effective ways of ensuring good employee relations is adopting a strategy that values employees as stakeholders in the business (Gennard & Judge, 1999). The post-war consensus took place between 1945 and 1979. Laws were created that gave legal rights at work to employees. The employer’s obligation towards workers was also specified. In addition, disputes were resolves through mediation and social unions agreed to provide assistance to governments in resolving the economic problems of the country. However, industrial relations declined there was unemployment and wage demand and inflation continued to rise. In addition, unions improved through legislation and to achieve flexibility in the workplace, negotiations and social compromise was used rather than being imposed by employers. Consequently, the Keynesian economic objective was designed to manage the demand of the economy through achieving full employment as well as an economy that is stable. It was believed that through Keynesians, the level of unemployment depended on government policy and that the state was able to achieve a low unemployment rate by accepting a high but steady rate of inflation. A tribunal system was established in the UK to deliver the recommendations of the Donovan Commission by coming up with a system that was fast, easily to access, informal and not expensive. However, this has not been successful, as it never met the standards of the tribunal. Employers view the use of employment legislation disparagingly. In addition, employment law formalized the ideologies of natural justice whereby whichever action an employer took towards an employee was measured just

Article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Article - Essay Example The article suggests that ,Vogan firm assisted an accused named Julian Green , who is arrested for storing child pornography images on PC to go free . According to Montaldo ,(2013)â€Å"Almost all pedophiles have a collection of pornography, which they protect at all costs. Many of them also collect "souvenirs" from their victims. They rarely discard either their porn or collections for any reason†. At the Julianne Green's home enormous numbers of child porn images were found, which led to the accusation of being a pedophile. The images stored in his computer were a firsthand proof to the police to accuse him as a pedophile. The convicted Julian Green is saved by Vogon, due to latter’s professional approach and eye for detail. The hard disk of Greene acquired by Vogon is detected for virus infection to understand whether the pornographic images were downloaded and stored due to malware functioning. As per American Associated Press (2009) â€Å"Of all the sinister thing s that Internet viruses do, this might be the worst: They can make you an unsuspecting collector of child pornography†. Green could have been unaware that the images stored on his PC could lead to his arrest. The Effort of Vogon in releasing Greene Greene is acquitted of pedophile act on the basis of evidence found on his PC which was 172 images of child pornography. The police arrested Green on the basis of the evidence they collected from his computer. The pictures were unknowingly harbored by the Trojan virus in the PC but Green is imprisoned for 10 years for this abusive act. The solicitor Chris has approached Vogon to confirm the reason behind the storage of child porn images, as they were suspicious that it could be the act of virus .The hard drive of Greene is cloned and processed to understand presence of Trojan which infected his pc with images. The computer specialist unraveled this malware in the hard drive of Green with utmost care and skill. The real culprit detec ted by the software specialist was the unsolicited e-mails opened by Green. The computer specialist Gibbs detected 12 Trojan programs on Green’s computer and this was a solid evidence for the solicitor to prove Green’s innocence. According to Kaspersky(2013)â€Å"A common scenario is that a person receives what looks like a perfectly legitimate e-mail or computer update, often from a trusted source. When the user tries to open the file, it seems that nothing happens. In fact, they may have installed a Trojan horse on their hard drive†. Only on the basis of this strong professional evidence, the court decided to drop this case. The credit for Green’s relief from acquitting solely goes to the Solicitor and Vogon Forensic laboratory. According to Forensic Control Limited (2013) â€Å"Computer forensics is the practice of collecting, analyzing and reporting on digital information in a way that is legally admissible. It can be used in the detection and preven tion of crime and in any dispute where evidence is stored digitally† The pedophile cases on Trojan and its consequences The author explains that, a person named Karl Scofield escaped accusation of being a pedophile on the basis of Trojan infection. Apart from this, Aaron Caffrey , the teenage hacker who is accused of crippling Houston web -based system

Why the War on Drugs persists Essay Example for Free

Why the War on Drugs persists Essay Clearly the unstated aim of the federal government of the United States of America is the attainment of total control of the Earth, including all its material resources and peoples, by economic, political and military means. The achievement of this requires the expenditure of vast amounts of money over several decades. A major part of this money comes from covert U. S. government trafficking in illegal drugs, primarily the addictive drugs cocaine and heroin. U. S. -sponsored world-wide drug prohibition, a. k. a.the War on Drugs, is primarily a tactic to keep street prices high and profits astronomical, regardless of the huge social and personal damage done. U. S. -sponsored drug prohibition will continue until either the U. S. attains its aim of complete military and political domination of the Earth (which is still some time away, if it ever happens) or the junta which rules the U. S. and which aims at total control is removed from power. Only an alliance of anti-fascist nations, and sustained resistance by people who value their freedom, can prevent the subjugation of the Earth to those intent on controlling and exploiting it. Repeal of the laws, and of the U. S. -imposed international treaties, prohibiting possession and sale of drugs which are presently illegal would remove the enormous profits derived from wholesale illegal drug trafficking and cut off a major source of the money required by the U. S. for the achievement of its aim of total world domination. Obviously the U. S. will never repeal these laws and treaties, so it is up to the other countries of the world to do so, if they value their sovereignty, freedom and cultural tradition. Covert government by defense contractor means corrupt wars of conquest, government by dope dealer. When the worlds traditional inebriative herbs become illegal commodities, they become worth as much as precious metal, precious metal that can be farmed. Illegal drugs, solely because of the artificial value given them by Prohibition, have become the basis of military power anywhere they can be grown and delivered in quantity. To this day American defense contractors are the biggest drug-money launderers in the world. — Drug War: Covert Money, Power and Policy, p. 318. And, of course, the tactics used by one player in the game can be used by others. Not all the poppy fields are funded by the CIA. To some it will seem that with enough money one can buy control of the entire planet. This is no doubt an idea which occurred to some people long ago. But it takes time to achieve such an ambitious goal. Ethical considerations, of course, do not enter into the calculations. Any means may be used to attain the end. One useful means is the exploitation of the urge humans have to modify their consciousness by eating, drinking, smoking or snorting substances found to produce desirable effects. Humans have done it for ages. Bring in a capitalist socio-economic system and you have a sure way to make a lot of money. Especially if consumer prices can be jacked way up. And the way to do that is to make the possession and use of these substances illegal. Then suppliers become criminals and run the risk of punishment, and so must be financially compensated for the risks they take. The higher the risk, the higher the street price. So make it all very illegal and (try to) corner the market in mind-altering substances, especially the addictive ones (a captive market, so to speak) and voila! The greatest money-making scam in the entire history of the planet! Sufficiently lucrative that with the profits one can buy everyone who needs to be bought: police, judges, customs officers and politicians. Total control! The wet-dream of every fascist dictator — now within the grasp of any sufficiently large, sufficiently well-run, sufficiently immoral organization, such as a government of a country whose wealth has been acquired by war and ruthless exploitation of natural resources and which maintains a military-industrial economy larger and more threatening than that of any other. How long has there been a War on Drugs? Seems forever. (It was announced by Richard Nixon in 1971, but goes back millennia, as we saw above. ) And year after year, it just gets crazier and crazier, ruins more and more lives, and drives the U. S. further into the pit of social disaster. How is it possible that this insanity persists (even though intelligent and rational people have been pointing out for many years how crazy and evil it is)? Read this page (and page two) for an understanding of what lies behind this monstrosity. America, with less than 5 percent of the world population, has a quarter of the worlds prisoners. There are six times as many Americans behind bars as are imprisoned in the 12 countries that make up the entire European Union, even though those countries have 100 million more citizens than the United States. Our jails and prisons have become the 51st state, with a greater combined population than Alaska, North Dakota and South Dakota. — Editorial, San Jose Mercury News, 1999-12-31. In August [2000], the U. S. Department of Justice revealed that the number of men and women behind bars in the U. S. at the end of 1999 exceeded two million and the rate of incarceration had reached 690 inmates per 100,000 residents — a rate Human Rights Watch believed to be the highest in the world (with the exception of Rwanda). The unrelenting war on drugs continued to pull hundreds of thousands of drug offenders into the criminal justice system: 1,559,100 people were arrested on drug charges in 1998; approximately 450,000 drug offenders were confined in jails and prisons. According to the Department of Justice, 107,000 people were sent to state prison on drug charges in 1998, representing 30. 8 percent of all new state admissions. Drug offenders constituted 57. 8 percent of all federal inmates. — Human Rights Watch World Report 2001: United States At this time the Gulag Archipelago, the scattered islands of prisons in which hundreds of thousands of non-violent people are locked away for half their lives for their opposition to the disgraceful and immoral policies of a tyrannical and dictatorial state, is not in Russia, rather it is in the United States of America. This is a crime against humanity by which the government of the United States, which trumpets itself as a defender of liberty and democracy, makes itself into an object of contempt in the eyes of the world. The real problem with drugs in the modern world is that they are illegal. Put simply, the Drug War exists primarily to support — financially and otherwise — the maintenance of the criminal status of the possession of (certain) drugs so that those (mostly on the payroll of the U.S. federal government). Who profit big — directly or indirectly — from the supply of prohibited drugs can continue to do so, at the expense of everyone else, and especially at the expense of the hundreds of thousands of people imprisoned for victimless crimes. This is a scandal and a disgrace of the first magnitude. It will become for the United States of America a source of enduring shame and infamy just as the Third Reich became for Germany.

Causes of Construction Site Accidents

Causes of Construction Site Accidents The construction industry is not only known as an industry which is developing rapidly but it is known for its highly dangerous activities as well. In Malaysia, hazardous works on construction sites that cause accidents are taken as a crucial matter. Every single year, construction workers are among the people who are always to get caught in accidents. This serious problem has caused them to involve in fatal injuries and some of them also have been killed. In the past few years, the construction industry has gained a lot of profits by buildings that have been constructed using latest advanced technologies, but somehow the safety measures on site still being neglected. Despite of delays of the construction progress and difficulties in repairing of works and machineries that cost lots of money to be spent, but of these are incomparable to the loss of the human life. The implementation of a proper and effective health and safety policy on construction site is very essential for a builder. The hazards must be clearly understood by all the personnel working on site especially those who hold a high position in a project. Proper commitment and attention by every personnel can help in reducing hazards and accidents in the working environment other than knowing their own responsibilities on site. Every party in the construction industry also should put safety measures as their main priority during the preliminary stage until the completion of a work or construction project. The construction industry is often portrayed with negative images such as dirty, dangerous and difficult or commonly known as the 3D. Whenever a construction related matter is being discussed, people will have these thoughts embedded in their minds. This will make people feel uninterested to be involved or working in the construction field and finally resulting in lack of workforce in this industry. Thus, the safety measures on site need to be improved in order to eliminate this mindset and to achieve a safer working environment. Each party also needs to make drastic actions in ensuring an effective safety and health measures are being practiced on site to preserve the good image of the construction industry in the future. 1.2 Problem Statement The standard of safety measures in construction industry in Malaysia has lagged behind if compared to any other industries. This scenario makes it hard to achieve zero accidents and developing a safety culture among the personnel working on construction site. In the real construction practice, it was found that the safety program implementation by majority of construction companies were only at the early stage. This clearly shows that these companies do not have a safety program driven by a safety culture (Abd Hamid Abd Majid, 2006) Although a lot of contribution to the national economy comes from construction industry, the number of accidents, incidents, injuries and fatalities are still reaching a higher rate (Hinze, 1997). For some employers or clients, the implementation of safety management system is often believed to cost more in a project and they make it as a less concentrated matter on construction site. This is why safety records are often being focused because of its unsatisfactory performance due to safety being neglected and has not been taken systematically. Safety aspects are considered very crucial especially in a construction project but unfortunately there are still many employers do not feel that it is one of the keys to the success of companies. It is also known that the nature of the construction industry requires physical demand and harsh works, make it an industry with higher risk of injury other than the lack of awareness on the responsibilities of each parties involve in a project to mai ntain the safety performance. Hence, the implementation of safety measure should not be taken lightly as it is an important element in keeping the construction site a better and safer place to work. In order to decrease the jobsite risk and improve safety measures, this research will be carried out to identify the common causes of accidents that contributing to the high rate of accidents on construction and to emphasize on the roles and responsibilities of parties involved in this industry. Research Aim and Objectives 1.3.1 Aim The aim of this research is to know the significance of practicing and applying safety measures so that it can create awareness to the people who are working in the construction industry especially the management on how safety plays an important role in reducing accidents on site. 1.3.2 Objectives The three objectives are to be achieved in this research are listed as below: To study the various causes of accidents that occurred on construction site This objective is to find out the causes of this problem so that it can be solved from the root more easily and efficiently. To assess what are the roles and responsibilities of each parties in construction industry on improving the standard of safety on site and how they can reduce the number of accidents This objective is to know the relationship between their roles and responsibilities with safety performance and how it ensures the site safety is implemented. To find the ways to improve the site safety practice involved in the construction site in Klang Valley. This objective is generate ideas, ways and methods to improve the safety measures on site 1.4 Scope and Limitation of Study This research will only focus on the construction sites based around Klang Valley. Areas of study are limited to identifying the causes of accidents on construction site like unsafe equipment and machineries, job site conditions, human factor and others. Besides that, a study on the roles and responsibilities of various parties involved in the construction industry will also be done. The parties to be included in this study are from the paymaster of a project or the employer and up to the professional bodies of this industry such as Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB). 1.5 Research Methodology In order to gain data for this research, various methods to extract necessary information regarding safety and health measures in the construction industry will be done. The information gathered is used to assist in the understanding of the causes that lead to the effectuation of accidents on construction site and the roles and responsibilities of various parties in the construction industry. The methods that will be used for this research are surveys, literature review and analyzing the information. Stage 1: Topic selection In this stage, the first matter that needs to be done is to identify problems occurring in this industry. Problem which is popular and most frequently arise will be chosen as the research topic. Then, literature review based on the topic selected is carried out by getting information from the previous research done by other people. Stage 2: Study proposal During the second stage, determining the aim and objectives of this research is important. It allows the research to achieve the target so that the main problem can be solved and eliminated. Besides that, the scope of the study is also specified to let the readers know the area of study that will be covered and not to be covered in this research. Stage 3: Data gathering and processing Primary Data In order to get practical information that can contribute to this research, surveys will be conducted. Survey questionnaires will be distributed to personnel working on site such as project manager, safety officer, site supervisor and others to get valuable insight into the risk and hazards involved on construction site. A practical view from them is of utmost importance to obtain information which is not available in books. This is also an opportunity to interact with the people involved in the construction field. The information that need to be obtain in the survey are like the causes of accident to happen in the construction site, what accident cases are often being reported and the role and responsibility of each parties to improve the site safety in construction. Secondary Data Secondary data can be obtained by finding sources and information in a library. Some of the libraries that will be the place to conduct this method are the library in Tunku Abdul Rahman College and the public library. The sources that will be used in the library are articles, textbooks, journals and magazines. The authors name, year of publication, title, place of publication and publisher of the book will be indicated in the research for referencing purpose. Internet is also one of the best sources to get information about safety on construction site. Relevant materials and information can be easily obtained in the internet because the application is wide and unlimited. Information such as statistics of accidents occurred on site and latest news on the construction safety and health issues also may be obtained from internet searching. Chapter II CAUSES OF CONSTRUCTION SITE ACCIDENTS 2.1 Introduction On the construction site, workers are exposed to hazardous works and dealing with such works everyday is something common for them. Safety First is a very popular phrase that can be found on most construction site but it does not being put under first priority as it is stated in signboards and posters. There is no wonder why the accident rates on construction sites are getting higher each year. Statistics also have proven that the number of deaths caused by accidents in construction industry has surpassed all other industry. The chart below shows the number of victims involved in death cases that have been investigated by the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) up until December 2010. In this chapter, identifying the various causes of accidents will be the primary objective as it helps in generating ideas in improving safety measures on site. 2.2 Definitions 2.2.1 Accident Accident can be defined as an unplanned, uncontrolled event which has led to or could have led to injury to people, damage to plant, machinery or the environment and/or some other loss. The controlling of work situation by providing safe conditions and insisting on the use of safe working method and procedures is the way of accident prevention. 2.2.2 Hazard Hazard is a source, situation or occurrence in the workplace that has the potential to harm the health and safety of people or to damage plant and equipment. The situation could involve a task, chemical or equipment used. 2.2.3 Safety Safety can be defined as the quality of being safe and the freedom from danger or risk where people are protected against physical, occupational or other types of harm, error, failure, accidents or any event which is non-desirable. The controlling of hazards to achieve an acceptable level of risk also can be the definition of safety. 2.3 Unsafe Acts and Conditions 2.3.1 Unsafe Acts Usually, accidents at work occur either due to unsafe acts and unsafe conditions. There is no general agreement on the definition of an unsafe act. However, it has been defined in similar focus on unaccepted practices which have the potential of producing future accidents and injuries. Other definition of unsafe act that given by previous researcher is unsafe act is an action deviates from generally recognised safe way of doing a job and increases the chance of an accident (Stranks, 2000). Unsafe acts can be classified into two types either as errors or violations (Reason, 1990). According to most accident reports, the errors are to be found as a major contributor to accidents. Meanwhile, violations are less common. There are two conditions where unsafe acts may occur. Firstly, workers do not know while they are acting unsafely. Secondly, they know while they are acting unsafely. For the first situation, the problem can be easily solved by providing safety training to the worker, supervise them closely, providing good work system design, etc. The reasons for the workers to act unsafely for the second case is more complex because it could be due to various factors like personality of the workers, influence by coworkers, the extent of managerial support and the nature of the job being undertaken. Although workers are fully aware that they are working unsafely, they still want to carry on with such unsafe acts. There are various acts that are considered unsafe. Those acts are: Working without authority on the job can cause accidents since unauthorized workers may lack of skills and unfamiliar with the job process. Failure to secure coworkers or to warn about the danger is an unsafe act because many accidents occur while workers are paying less attention to warn and secure coworkers who are exposed to accidents occurrence when working. Working at improper speeds, exceeding the prescribed speed limits or unsafe speed actions could cause accidents. Not placing and stacking the materials properly in dangerous locations will cause unpredicted accidents to happen. The usage of tools and equipment, hand tools, power tools and machinery which is done inaccurately may result in accidents. Executing work by using defective equipment and tools. Refusing to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) will increase the probability of getting injured. Smoking which creates sparks in areas where flammable materials are stored could cause explosions. Throwing or accidentally dropping objects from high levels could expose other workers being struck by the object and cause head injury. Improper posture for tasks like workers making shortcuts by climbing or jumping from high levels instead of using ladders. Servicing equipment which is under operation. 2.3.2 Unsafe Conditions An unsafe condition is a condition in which the physical layout of the workplace or work location, the status of tools, equipment and material violate the safety standards. Some examples of unsafe conditions include open sided floors, defective ladders, improperly constructed scaffolds, protruding ends of reinforcing rods, protruding nails and wire ties, defective equipment, ungrounded electrical tools and many others. In most accidents occurred on construction site, unsafe conditions are the main cause contributing to an accident. It is distinguished that that unsafe conditions are divided into two types according to when they occurred during the sequence of work and who caused them to exist and develop (Abdelhamid Everett, 2000). The unsafe condition may exist in different situations which are before an activity is started and another one is develop after an activity is started. The occurrence of these two types of unsafe conditions is due to some other causes like actions and inactions by the Management Team and worker or coworker unsafe acts. 2.3.2.1 Actions and Inactions by Management Team Among the example of Management Team actions and inactions that lead to unsafe condition on site are they fail to provide proper and adequate personal protective equipment to the workers, fail to maintain or safeguard tools and equipment, violating the workplace standards such as ignoring slippery floors that can cause someone to fall, insufficient ventilation leaving the workers to choke, poor housekeeping and others. Workers are also sometimes requested to perform tasks that exceed the human capabilities or violate the human factors, ergonomics and the principles of industrial hygiene. This request which made unintentionally by the Management Team will expose the worker to unsafe condition of the site and eventually leads to injuries and illness. 2.3.2.2 Coworker Unsafe Act Inexperienced worker or coworker in working on the site will tend to act unsafe when handling a task which may lead to unsafe conditions for other workers. Unsafe condition will exist when these inexperienced workers doing their job recklessly like removing machine safeguards, working while intoxicated where they are under the influence of drugs or alcohol, working with less concentration due to insufficient sleep, neglecting the housekeeping rules, executing works where they do not have the authorization to do so, etc. 2.3.2.3 Site Layout Poor site layout in construction site is also contributing to the unsafe condition factor. It was reported that insufficient working space was a problem in a number of accident studies (Hide et al., 2003). Sometimes, the commencement of the build prior to the completion of demolition is blocking the space allocation on site resulting in number of reorganizations of site layout to fulfill the changing of the build plan. Other than that, space constraints can restrict the allocation of floor area for workshop placement, footpaths, storage, parking provision and adequacy of space transport routes. This will cause constriction to the room for vehicle to access the drop-off points and effect on the traffic flow on site and interrupt the ease of receiving deliveries where it leads to a subsequent need for double handling materials. It also will make the routes to become narrow and may cause accidents where vehicles can overturn and hit the workers in the surrounding area. 2.3.2.4 Ground Conditions Ground conditions are one of the risk factor for accidents. The common problem that is always found is raised structures on the walking surface that can create trip hazards. Some examples of trip hazards are electrical cables, ply board used as a temporary manhole cover and raised setting out points. It is hard for the workers to be aware of these hazards because most of the time they were coloured black, grey or brown instead of being marked or coloured. 2.3.2.5 Poor Housekeeping Good housekeeping is upmost the important thing to be considered to ensure the site is safe. Unfortunately, many sites found these days did not put housekeeping into their priority. Everyone on the site must do their part to ensure that the site is clean and orderly. Although, there are workers that felt that clearing up the site is the responsibility of other people who had created the mess or up to the Contractor to undertake it. This situation will make good housekeeping hard to achieve. As we know, the most common types of injuries that occur on site are slips, trips and falls which are also contributed by poor housekeeping. Accidents happened due to unorganized material will result in workers suffer cuts from materials and materials fall down striking workers head resulting in head injury. 2.4 Accidents by Equipments and Machineries On construction site, workers are required to use different types of equipments and machineries to ease the work that need to be done. By using these equipments every day, workers tend to put themselves at great risk for injury when they are using construction equipments. The equipments also can be defective and will cause the person using them or another person on site to be injured or killed. The defective equipments and machineries are required to be immediately tagged to indicate that they are damaged and remove from the construction area. However, the tags will sometimes come off and workers will not usually stop to walk away from their working area. Finally, someone may pick up and use back the defective equipments or machineries that make them involved in accidents. 2.4.1 Scaffolding The usage of scaffolding is essential in a construction project to get workers to a higher level of the building structure when they are executing a work. As much as it is useful to workers, it is also very dangerous and hazardous. Statistics reported that 28% of the accidents involving scaffold are caused by construction deficiencies. Among the deficiencies happened are because of the usage of substandard components, omitting essential components and failure to complete the assembly of scaffold. (OSHA, 2003). The people who are exposed to the scaffolding hazards are the ones who erecting the scaffold themselves, the workers that are going to use it when doing works and the general public near the scaffold. Scaffolding accidents usually will involve either people falling, incorrect operating procedures, environmental conditions, the scaffold collapse and/or people being struck by falling objects from the scaffold itself (Berry, 2011). There will be objects that fall to the ground because workers who work using scaffold will bring along some of equipment together with them such as paint and other related supplies, tools like hammers, screwdriver and also widow cleaning equipment. When there is a worker on the scaffold, it will not only cause harm to that worker but also to those who are on the ground with serious injury by getting hit by the scaffolding or other falling objects. Scaffoldings are usually kept outside which exposed to the environment. This can cause the scaffoldings to deteriorate. Scaffolds are often being reported to be in good condition by inspection and maintenance before they collapsed. This is because it is hard to detect corrosion of the internal surface of tubular scaffolds. Other causes of accidents of scaffoldings are: Unsecure scaffolding Poor or careless construction Use of poor quality of damaged material Missing or malfunctioning brakes Missing or malfunctioning fall safety systems Lack of or poorly conducted safety inspections 2.4.2 Crane The usage of crane is one of the major causes of fatalities during constructing a building and accidents often happen when lifting operation is executed. The occurrence of fatalities during crane operation still continue to increase although ongoing research and recommendations to reduce this problem have been done for the past several decades (Beavers et al., 2006). The most common types of crane accidents involve the crane coming into contact with electrical power lines. Overhead electrical power lines present a serious electrocution hazard to workers on site. The most common means of electric power transmission and distribution is the overhead line which normally made of uninsulated conductors supported on tower or poles. It is likely to come in contact with a crane because it is placed in a high position. When a crane is contacting with energized overhead line, it becomes elevated to a high voltage that can cause harm to the crane operator (Sacks et al., 1998). Severe injury or death from electrocution is the risks that need to be faced by the operator and anyone standing nearby if this catastrophe happens. The crane rigger also can contribute to an accident. Workers or bystanders are exposed to rigging crane accidents when the material connected to the load block or headache ball fall onto them. Besides that, heavy loads that exceed the limitations and stability of a crane will result in structural failure, causing the crane to tip and collapse over the operator and other workers below it. 2.4.3 Excavator The massive size, weight and power of an excavator will place an operator or workers at high risk of serious injury when there is an accident happens caused by excavator. The most common accident caused by excavator will involve quick-hitch. A quick-hitch is device used to make connection and removal of attachment such as buckets and rock breakers of the excavator. The risk arise from the quick-hitch is the disconnection of the attachment resulting works to be loose and falls from the excavator (Edwards, 2007). This incident can cause crucial injury or even worst, death, if the attachment such as heavy buckets are detached and fall onto the workers nearby. Other causes of quick-hitch accidents that involve unintentional release of the attachment are: the failure to engage the quick-hitch properly due to carelessness failure to use any secondary locking device poor maintenance of locking mechanism attachment being overloaded. Even though the cause of an accident can be obvious at first, there are also some root causes of excavator accidents that need to be identify such as: lack or inadequate training given to the operator inadequate supervision by supervisors during excavation works are executed poorly trained ground workers workers encroach the excavator operating area while it is working 2.5 Poor Management System It is necessary to have a good management system in a construction project as it can generate an organizational setting in which workers will be trained and motivated to perform safe and productive construction work. Unfortunately, many management systems fail to be responsible in creating outline procedures to identify and eliminate hazards and eventually letting personnel involve in undesired accidents. 2.5.1 Poor Safety Policy Nowadays, it is common to see Site Management not establishing an effective safety policy. Safety policy is important in a construction company stress on the principles and goals to show the companys commitment to workplace health and safety (CSAO, 1993). Less awareness on the importance of having safety policy is why there are big numbers of management did not implement it. When there is no effective safety policy made by the management, personnel on site tend to execute their work in a dangerous way because they do not have a proper guideline in safe working methods which may lead them to be exposed to risks and hazards in the construction site environment. By not having a safety policy, accidents that occurred will not only harm the personnel, but it will make the company bare a high financial risk. This situation is likely to happen because the management fails to provide support for safety programmes where it is considered as a need since an accident were proved to be costly. A better safety performance is also hard to achieve because management system does not have the responsibility to provide a safe work site for all personnel because the key in achieving that is to have viability and participation by the management (Sawacha et al, 1999). 2.5.2 Poor Organising Among all of the functions safety management, the most important one is to designate individual with responsibilities so that the construction safety programme and plan can be implemented successfully. Without having a well planned organisation, the management will find it hard to execute monitoring on policy implementation, to determine the roles of safety committees and safety representative, and to portray health and safety responsibilities in every individual job descriptions. The unsatisfied involvement and commitment by both management and workers also makes the safety policy to be less effective (Holt, 2001). Undertaking fault and correcting action being taken can hardly be done causing less improvement to the safety performance because the safety representative is also not well-trained due to poor organisation (Sawacha et al., 1999). The safety performance will only be at the same level without any improvement when companies with poor organisation fail in providing effective safety committees where they play a positive role in this matter (Sawacha et al., 1999). 2.6 Other Factors 2.6.1 Personal Factors 2.6.1.1 Laziness Taking shortcuts in doing works that being assigned are done by most workers because they want to avoid extra activities (Hall, 1995). Sometimes, workers feel that it is troublesome for them to choose the right tool during work so it is preferable to them to work with the wrong tools. 2.6.1.2 Past Experience For workers that have been working in a company for a long time and having to perform a similar job, it is hard for them to change or give up the way they do things. This is actually not recommended because the old habit can increase the possibilities of accidents to happen by preventing them from noticing the hazards (Kittleson, 1995). 2.6.1.3 Doing Works in a Hurry Sometimes supervisors want the works to be done as fast as possible which gives pressure to some workers and leading them getting the works complete in a hurry. In order for the workers to save time finishing the works, he or she may abandon the good safety practices (Stice, 1995). 2.6.1.4 Being Angry Angry is sometimes uncontrollable and makes someone not to be caution, leading him or her to be involved in accidents. To identify when someone is angry is by noticing that person is sweating, tremble and grinding the teeth. Anger that cannot be resolved will cause distraction, proneness to accidents, anxiety, rage and violence (Kittleson, 1995). 2.6.1.5 Overconfidence Having confidence is important for every worker and it is a good thing, but overconfidence can bring more harm than good. A person with an attitude of thinking that he or she will never involve in an accident will lead to wrong procedures or methods and cause injury (Hirsch, 1998). 2.6.2 Job Factors 2.6.2.1 Work Overload Workers can develop high stress especially when they are asked to do works more that what they could handle together with the pressure due to deadline. Work overload can be divided into two different forms which are quantitative overload where workers are asked to do more works, and qualitative overload where the workers lack of belief that they do not have the skills to get the work done (Greenberg Baron, 2000) 2.6.2.2 Work Underload Stress can also arise when someone is being asked to do too little work. There are two types of work underload which are quantitative underload where a person feels bored from having little work to do, and qualitative underload where a person is lack of mental stimulation like routines and repetitive jobs (Greenberg Baron, 2000). 2.6.2.3 Time Pressure Workers will get overwhelmed and worry once they felt that they are unable to finish a work before the deadlines (Stranks, 2000). Moreover, when there is a change in the work process and workers are not given sufficient time to complete it, they will easily become stressed.

Role of Edutaintment for Safe Motherhood Education

Role of Edutaintment for Safe Motherhood Education THE PRACTICE OF SAFE MOTHERHOOD: CAN EDUTAINMENT BE THE WAY FORWARD? INTRODUCTION The Safe Motherhood concept was delivered worldwide to bring about reduction in maternal mortality. This concept has been successful to some extent but it has been discovered that Nigeria is yet to meet its 75% target of curbing mortality by year 2015 to its lowest ebb. Despite the Safe Motherhood initiative in Nigeria, pregnant and Post-partum women especially those in the rural communities still do not have a favorable disposition to practicing safe motherhood. This could be as a result of poor knowledge of these women about the concept of safe motherhood (Igbokwe and Adama, 2011). However, Mass Media as channels of mass communication is to inform, educate and persuade its audience to accept new ideas and technologies to enhance their living conditions. Edutainment is a form of communication used for the purpose of entertaining and education to create social change. Edutainment uses popular entertainment such as dramas, folklores, documentaries, talk shows and discussions to tackle social issues for the purpose of inciting change and promote positive attitude. Soul City Institute (2013) further defines edutainment as: any communication project that sets out to use popular culture to educate and challenge people. Edutainment is not a theory but a strategy to bring about individual and social change. It uses popular entertainment formats to tackle serious social issues in an innovative and entertaining way Singhal and Rogers (1999) points out that â€Å"Entertainment-through television, radio and music is one of the most effective communication strategies for reaching the public to promote family planning and other public health issues†. Therefore, mass media can shape health beliefs of people while promoting knowledge and awareness of health messages. The Mass media play a major role in peoples everyday lives. This is evident in how routine it has become to watch television, listen to the radio, surf the internet, and read newspapers and magazines. Television as a major tool of information dissemination and entertainment programs is a veritable tool for mass education. Since it is a visual medium, women can see examples of the various family planning methods available and safe health practices can be demonstrated during edutainment programmes. Also, television has the capacity to reach larger groups of women simultaneously thus, helping to facilitate and create awareness amongs t women on prevention and ways to handle health issues they are plagued with. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Reduction in maternal deaths has become the major preoccupation of stakeholders in maternal health today as evidenced by its frequent appearance in most developmental objectives in the world today. It is also the 5th goal in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). World Health Organization (WHO) citing Graham indicates that the women dying are in their prime of life: they are crucial to society and the economy; they sustain the next generation; they make up more than half the workforce†. The discussion paper of Tinker et al (2000) reported that â€Å"womens low socioeconomic status and reproductive role expose them to risks of poor health and premature death†. They assert, further, that Womens reproductive biology, combined with their lower socioeconomic status, results in women bearing the greater burden from unsafe sex which includes both infections and the complications of unwanted pregnancy. Over the years, women in Nigeria and Africa, at large, have been plagued with health issues such as high mortality in childbirth. To combat maternal morbidity/mortality and other health issues that women face, there is the need for quality reproductive health services, such as medical care which includes family planning, safe pregnancy, delivery care, treatment and prevention of sexually transmitted infections, such as HIV and AIDS. Kalyani (2007) notes that while health issues on women are rampant and on the increase, the attitude of women towards seeking information on their health is low with little done in research about how women seek information pertaining to their health. Studies have revealed further that not all women understand and are able to process the health messages they come across. An example is the Findings from the National Adult Literacy Survey which indicate that â€Å"almost half of the U.S. adult population has limited literacy skills, and one-quarter is functionally illiterate†. Flores, Weber, Kilker, Dang and Lindsey (2007) observe that this is so as Health information often includes â€Å"technical terms and concepts that are hard to understand, regardless of ones level of education or literacy†. However, reading, understanding, and using health information can be a difficult task for those with limited literacy skills. Thus, the need for media programmes on health, as media cut across literacy level. To reduce these health challenges to their lowest ebb, television as a medium of entertainment and information seek to keep the ‘woman’ educated and informed. There is the need for media education on health a s a result of the complexity and population of the Nigerian society which health workers cannot handle alone. Objectives of the study The general objective of this study is to examine the extent to which edutainment programmes on the broadcast media have helped in promoting the practice of safe motherhood. Other objectives are: To determine if pregnant and post-partum women through Health edutainment programmes on the broadcast media have the knowledge of Safe Motherhood. To find out if pregnant and post-partum women practice the health messages on Safe Motherhood they watch or listen to. Research Questions To what extent do pregnant and post-partum women have the knowledge of Safe Motherhood as a result of health edutainment programmes on the broadcast media? What is the attitude of pregnant and post-partum women to the practice of Safe Motherhood? Scope of the study This thrust of this study is to investigate the extent to which edutainment programmes on the broadcast media have helped in promoting the practice of safe motherhood. This study will cover pregnant and post-partum women in Ilisan Community within the ages 15 to 49 years of age. Ilisan community is a town located in Ikenne Local government area of Ogun state. It is a community that has a number of her female populations is either illiterate or semi-literate. It is also a community that has a high rate of teenage pregnancy. LITERATURE REVIEW Safe Motherhood Geefhuysen (2000) defines Safe Motherhood as is the â€Å"culmination of services for women from the beginning of life and the ability to choose when to become pregnant†. The concept of safe motherhood includes taking necessary steps when preparing to get pregnant such as adequate preparation for the well- being of the mother and the growing fetus before conception and taking appropriate measures to ensure successful delivery. The purpose of Safe Motherhood initiative is to decide when to get pregnant through the use of contraceptive to promote family planning, prevent maternal mortality by saving for possible maternal emergency while receiving healthcare delivery service from a trained provider. This is affirmed by Igbokwe and Adama (2011) who pointed out that â€Å"safe motherhood is aimed at preventing maternal and prenatal mortality and morbidity. It also enhances the quality and safety of womens live through the adaptation of combination of health and non- health strateg ies† Maternal mortality The issue of maternal mortality has been a growing concern to world leaders and stakeholders in this field. â€Å"Maternal mortality is a single most important health issue facing obstetricians, gynecologists and Nigerians† (Society of Obstetric and Gynecology of Nigeria- SOGON). This problem arises from unequal power between men and women in sexual relationships which expose women to involuntary sex, unwanted pregnancy, and sexually transmitted infections including HIV and AIDS (Tinker, Finn and Epp, 2000). The world maternal ratio also necessitated the 5th Millennium Development Goals to have reduced maternal mortality ratio (MMR) by year 2015. The recent report by United Nations Fund for Population Activities UNFPA (2014) shows that: Globally, the maternal mortality ratio dropped by 45 per cent between 1990 and 2013, from 380 to 210 deaths per 100,000 live births. Worldwide, almost 300,000 women died in 2013 from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. Maternal death is mostly preventable and much more needs to be done to provide care to pregnant women. Health Messages and Edutainment Programmes Yahaya, Fadairo and Ogunele (2009) explain that information, entertainment and education are very important to women. Therefore, health communicators should always include some elements of information, education and entertainment in their health and other development messages targeted at women in order to attract or gain their attention. They summarised from their study in Lagos that women experienced a serious improvement in knowledge and a positive change in their health behaviour as a result of watching and listening to various health programmes on Entertainment-Education channels. For instance, 61.2% indicated serious improvement in knowledge, while 59.8% had a positive change in their health behaviour due to programmes on family planning on television and radio respectively. Also Farhana Ahmed (2008), in their report, affirms that mass media techniques that combine entertainment with health education are particularly effective in producing behaviour changes. This they discovere d in their findings on a soap opera in Tanzania â€Å"Twende na Wakati† (Let’s Go with Times) â€Å"which has influenced about one- fourth of its listeners to adopt family planning methods and HIV/ AIDS prevention while 65.5% of the participants said they discussed pregnancy and maternal health issues after the campaign† Also, several studies, Singhal and Rogers, 1999; Brown and Singhal, 1999 and Tufte, 2002 point out that Entertainment-through television is one of the most effective communication strategies for reaching out to the public to promote social change. Singhal and Rogers (1999) also notes that television soap operas, popular music, street theatre and comic books have all been used to educate the public about such health issues as family planning, HIV and AIDS prevention, environmental health, female equality, improved sanitation, female genital mutilation (Singhal, Rogers, 1999). Findings from their study showed that entertainment-education in developing countries confirm that the strategy changes behavior. Methodology Design: The structured questionnaire for the survey was designed in English but the data collectors were trained to interpret the questions in the local dialect. The design is considered appropriate because the study will essentially focus on people. Setting: The study was carried out in Ilisan Remo, Ogun State. Ilisan is a community located in Ikenne local government area of the state. It has a primary health care center, a teaching hospital owned by Babcock University and a few other privately owned hospitals that provide medical care. Ilisan also have a couple of Traditional Birth Centers which a great number of pregnant women visit. Procedure: a total of 110 copies of the questionnaire were distributed. The copies of the questionnaire were administered at homes, shops, the market place, private offices, hospitals, institutions, churches and mosques. 100 were returned and analysed using descriptive statistics such as frequency tables and percentages. Brown, W. and singhal, A. (1999) Entertainment-Education Media Strategies for Social Change Promises and Problems. In Demen, D. and VIIInnmath, K. (ed.), Mass Media Social Control and SocIal-Amea. Iowa: Iowa State Univenity Press. Retrieved from http://utminers.utep.edu/asinghal/Articles%20and%20Chapters/singhal_usdin_scheepers_goldstein_japhet.pdf Farhana, S. Ahmed, J. (2008).Entertainment-Education to Promote Safe Motherhood: In the Context of Bangladesh. Canadian Social Science 4(4). Canadian Research Development Center of Sciences and Cultures. Retrieved from http://www.questia.com/read/1P3-1584808581/entertainment-education-to-promote-safe motherhood Flores, L., Weber, K, Kilker, P., Dang, P. Lindsey, L. (2007). Health Education Efforts in Uncertain Times: Helping to Ensure Healthy Pregnancies in a Time of Crisis. American Journal of Health Education. Vol 38(4). Gale Group Geefhuysen, C. (2000) Safe Motherhood in Indonesia: A Task for the Next Century. In: Berer, M. and Ravindran, S. (ed.) Safe Motherhood Initiatives: Critical Issues. Retrieved rom http://www.rhmjournal.org.uk/publications/SafeMotherhood.pdf Igbokwe, C. and Adama, G. (2011) knowledge and practice of Safe Motherhood among childbearing mothers Attending maternal and child health (mch) Clinics in nsukka health district. Journal of Research in Education and Society Vol.2(1). Retrieved from http://www.icidr.org/jres_v2nos1_april2011/Knowledge and Practice of Safe Motherhood Initiative (SMI) among Childbearing Mothers attending Maternal and Child Health (Mch) Clinics in Nsukka Health District.pdf Kalyani, A. (2007). Information-Seeking Behavior of Women in Their Path to an Innovative Alternate Treatment for Symptomatic Uterine Fibroids. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 95(2): 164-172. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1852624/ Soul City Institute (2013) Edutainment: Using stories media for social action and behaviour change. Retrieved from http://www.google.com.ng/url?sa=trct=jq=esrc=ssource=webcd=2ved=0CCIQFjABurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.soulcity.org.za%2Fresearch%2Fpublished-articles%2Fedutainment-using-stories-and-media-for-social-action-and-behaviour-change%2Fdownloadei=VnP9VNuaI8vfapqSgYAOusg=AFQjCNFzf-ESEywiAXHtnk-_U6bJe_jkAAsig2=QdJ7fbpcrFiNaSEMB4mSNQbvm=bv.87611401,d.d2s Singhal, A. Rogers, E. (1999). Entertainment-Education: A Communication Strategy for Social Change. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Retrieved from http://www.questia.com/read/57758858/entertainment-education-a-communication strategy SOGON, (N/A).Fact Sheet on Reproductive Health in Nigeria: Facts and Figures. Tinker, A., Finn, K. Epp, J., (2000). Improving Women’s Health Issues and Interventions. Health, Nutrition, and Population Family (HNP). The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank. Washington, DC 20433 Tufte, T. (2002) Edutainment in HIV/AIDS Prevention. Building on the Soul City Experience in South Africa. In: Servaes, J. (ed.), Approaches to Development Communication, Paris: UNESCO. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.kz/publications/ci/hq/Approaches%20Development%20Communication/CHP13.PDF UNFPA (2014). The Millennium Development Goals Report. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2014%20MDG%20report/MDG%202014%20English%20web.pdf WHO (World Health Organization) (2013, February 6-7). Meeting to Develop a Global Consensus on Preconception Care to Reduce Maternal and Childhood Mortality and Morbidity. A Meeting Report presented at the World Health Organization Headquarters, Geneva. Retrieved from http://www.who.int Yahaya, M., Fadairo, S and Ogunele, A. (2009). Attitude and the Effect of Health-based Entertainment-Education Strategies on the Knowledge and Behaviour of Women in Lagos State. International Journal of Agricultural Economics Rural Development 2 (1): 2009. Retrieved from http://www.ijaerd.lautechaee-edu.com