The Blame Machine describes how disasters and serious accidents result from recurring, but potentially avoidable, human errors. It shows how such errors are preventable because they result from defective systems within a company. From real incidents, you will be able to identify common causes of human error and typical system deficiencies that have led to these errors. On a larger scale, you will be able to see where, in the organisational or management systems, failure occurred so that you can avoid them. The book also describes the existence of a 'blame culture' in many organisations, which focuses on individual human error whilst ignoring the system failures that caused it. The book shows how this 'blame culture' has, in the case of a number of past accidents, dominated the accident enquiry process hampering a proper investigation of the underlying causes. Suggestions are made about how progress can be made to develop a more open culture in organisations, both through better understanding of human error by managers and through increased public awareness of the issues. The book brings together documentary evidence from recent major incidents from all around the world and within the Rail, Water, Aviation, Shipping, Chemical and Nuclear industries.

Influencing the Quality, Risk and Safety Movement in Healthcare explores the inner workings of some of the most influential minds in healthcare quality, risk and safety. The book was created in cooperation with the Master of Science in Healthcare Quality graduate program, developed and delivered by Queen's University, Canada. This is the only standalone interdisciplinary Master of Science graduate degree in Healthcare Quality in North America that focuses on creating tomorrow's healthcare leaders. Following a one-to-one collaboration between each leader in healthcare with a dedicated learner of the MSc(HQ), readers are presented with a synopsis of the leader's work followed by an in-depth interview with him or her. Interviews center around the leaders' contributions to and thoughts on quality, risk and safety in healthcare, dealing with topics such as the development of their body of work, their greatest achievements, what they wish they could change, and future direction of quality, risk and safety, etc. The book provides a unique and highly accessible view into how and why the science of healthcare quality has developed, as well as giving a first-hand account of the founders and key players in the movement. It will offer valuable insights to any undergraduate/graduate class with an interest in healthcare, as well as professionals working within any of the many disciplines that can influence the healthcare system.

Inspecting and Diagnosing Disrepair provides housing officers, surveyors, landlords, tenants, lawyers and environmental health inspectors with the essential information they need to record, diagnose and remedy disrepair. Pat Reddin presents technical information methodically, including useful diagrams to help readers to develop an understanding of building materials and structures and to advise and take action on disrepair. The book is fully up to date with the latest legislation and is essential reading for environmental health professionals, surveyors and students alike.

Regulatory Governance and Risk Management will be the first book addressing the diffusion of risk-based governance in the coal mining industry from a health and safety standpoint. More specifically, it aims to understand a puzzling phenomenon. Since the 1990s, the approach of risk-based governance has been widely adopted in almost all developed countries in Europe and commonwealth countries. It, however, has diffused much more slowly in the U.S. Using a diffusion approach and comparisons between Australia and the U.S., this book examines mechanisms that both drive and prevent the diffusion of risk-based governance in the coal mining industry. This book has two major selling points. First, this is a timely work given the Upper Big Branch coal mine explosion occurred in April, 2010. After this disaster, many asked why an enhanced level of enforcement after 2006 has not prevented catastrophic accidents from occurring and why risk-based governance, which helps other countries achieve better safety performance, has been largely ignored in the U.S. This book answers these questions and makes recommendations on how to remove barriers in moving toward risk-based governance. Second, this book is readable because it embeds theories into storytelling and gives particular emphasis on the influence of key strategic individuals.

This book covers a wide range of topics relating to the health and wellbeing of the construction workforce. Based on more than a decade of work examining various aspects of workers' health and wellbeing, the book addresses a key topic in construction management: how the design of work environments, construction processes and organisation of work impact upon construction workers' physical and psychological health. Occupational health is a significant problem for the construction industry. However, the subject of health is usually treated as an afterthought in other books which emphasise safety issues. Traditional management approaches (focused on the prevention of accidents and injuries) are arguably ill-suited to addressing issues of workers' health and wellbeing. The evidenced informed approach in this book provides a rich analysis of how construction workers' health and wellbeing are impacted by working in the construction industry, and critical information about how organisations (and decision-makers within them) can create workplaces and practices that are supportive and enable construction workers to maintain healthy and productive working lives. Including chapter summaries and discussion questions to encourage student readers to reflect on and formulate their own viewpoints about the issues raised in each chapter, the book has the potential to be used as a textbook in undergraduate or postgraduate occupational health and safety, or construction management courses dealing with occupational health and safety. It could also be used as supplementary, recommended reading in undergraduate or postgraduate programs in architecture, engineering or management.

First published in 1921, Industrial Fatigue and Efficiency aims to provide a fairly complete overview of industrial fatigue and its influence on efficiency. It brings crucial themes like fatigue and its measurement; output in relation to weekly hours of work; output and hours of work in various industries; the six- hours day and multiple shifts; work spells and rest periods; limitation of output; lost time and its causation; sickness and mortality; industrial accidents and their causation; the prevention of industrial accidents; and adoption of healthy factory conditions, to showcase the importance of adequate lighting, heating and ventilation, washing facilities, cloak rooms, ambulance room and a well found canteen as basic requirements in factories. This book is an important historical document for scholars and researchers of labour studies, labour economics, industrial studies, and political economy.

In this work, Chico Mendes, founder of the Brazilian rubber tappers' union, talks about his life's work in the last interview before his murder in December 1988. As a trade union leader, he won international acclaim for his role in the non-violent campaign to protect the Amazon rain forest, on which the rubber tappers depend for their livelihood.

During the past two decades, the nature of work has changed dramatically, as more and more organizations downsize, outsource and move toward short-term contracts, part-time working and teleworking. The costs of stress in the workplace in most of the developed and developing world have risen accordingly in terms of increased sickness absence, labour turnover, burnout, premature death and decreased productivity. This book, in one volume, provides all the major theories of organizational stress from the leading researchers and writers in the field. It is a guide to identifying the sources of pressures in jobs and the workplace so that we may be able to intervene to change and manage the growing problem of organizational stress.

Who were the women who fought back at Grunwick and Gate Gourmet? Striking Women gives a voice to the women involved as they discuss their lives, their work and their trade unions. Striking Women is centred on two industrial disputes, the famous Grunwick strike (1976-78) and the Gate Gourmet dispute that erupted in 2005. Focusing on these two events, the book explores the nature of South Asian women's contribution to the struggles for workers' rights in the UK labour market. The authors examine histories of migration and settlement of two different groups of women of South Asian origin, and how this history, their gendered, classed and racialised inclusion in the labour market, the context of industrial relations in the UK in the two periods and the nature of the trade union movement shaped the trajectories and the outcomes of the two disputes. This is the first account based on the voices of the women involved. Drawing on life/work history interviews with thirty-two women who participated in the two disputes, as well as interviews with trade union officials, archival material and employment tribunal proceedings, the authors explore the motivations, experiences and implications of these events for their political and social identities.

This companion to the bestselling Introduction to Health and Safety in Construction is an essential revision aid for students preparing for their written assessments on the NEBOSH National Certificate in Construction Health and Safety. Fully updated to the April 2015 specification, the revision guide provides complete coverage of the syllabus in bite-sized chunks, helping readers to learn and memorise the most important topics. Throughout the book, the guide links back to the Introduction to Health and Safety in Construction textbook, helping students to consolidate their learning. * Small and portable making it ideal for use anywhere: at home, in the classroom or on the move * Suggests useful tips on study and examination technique * Includes practice questions and answers based on NEBOSH exam questions * Everything you need for productive revision in one handy reference The Health and Safety in Construction Revision Guide, written by the renowned health and safety author and former NEBOSH Vice Chairman Ed Ferrett, will be an invaluable tool for students as they prepare for their NEBOSH exam and for their subsequent health and safety work.

First published in 1991, this book investigates not only the processes of industrial relations themselves but also the climate in which they work. As we all as studying union behaviour, it views the topic from the wider perspective of human resource management and integrates theories of industrial relations and organizational analysis. The extensive empirical evidence presented, which draws on manufacturing and service industries in Canada, is used to examine such areas as cooperation between union and management, employee perceptions and corporate culture. This interesting reissue will be of importance to all those studying the dynamics of organizations and industrial relations processes, and ways in which a productive climate can be established and maintained.

In this new work, political theorist Michael J. Thompson argues that modern societies are witnessing a decline in one of the core building blocks of modernity: the autonomous self. Far from being an illusion of the Enlightenment, Thompson contends that the individual is a defining feature of the project to build a modern democratic culture and polity. One of the central reasons for its demise in recent decades has been the emergence of what he calls the "cybernetic society," a cohesive totalization of the social logics of the institutional spheres of economy, culture and polity. These logics have been progressively defined by the imperatives of economic growth and technical-administrative management of labor and consumption, routinizing patterns of life, practices, and consciousness throughout the culture. Evolving out of the neoliberal transformation of economy and society since the 1980s, the cybernetic society has transformed how that the individual is articulated in contemporary society. Thompson examines the various pathologies of the self and consciousness that result from this form of socialization—such as hyper-reification, alienated moral cognition, false consciousness, and the withered ego—in new ways to demonstrate the extent of deformation of modern selfhood. Only with a more robust, more socially embedded concept of autonomy as critical agency can we begin to reconstruct the principles of democratic individuality and community.

The second edition of Ventilation Control of the Work Environment incorporates changes in the field of industrial hygiene since the first edition was published in 1982. Integrating feedback from students and professionals, the new edition includes problems sets for each chapter and updated information on the modeling of exhaust ventilation systems, and thus assures the continuation of the book's role as the primary industry textbook.
This revised text includes a large amount of material on HVAC systems, and has been updated to reflect the changes in the Ventilation Manual published by ACGIH. It uses both English and metric units, and each chapter concludes with a problem set.

Risk is the single most prevalent and enduring factor that influences every individual, organization, and society. We often seek protection from negative risk events, but also seek to take advantage of opportunities arising from positive risk events. We may feel overwhelmed by messages encountered in daily interactions with media and society, contributing to a sense of ambiguity over how to act in response to risk-related information and misinformation. We seek to leverage evidence and reason to find our own balance between both positive and negative outcomes in an uncertain world. This ground-breaking book delivers practical concepts and tools that empower readers to leverage innovations in risk science to improve their abilities to interpret, assess, communicate, and handle risk. It provides a practical non-quantitative approach to understanding risk and to making better decisions involving risk. Think RISK covers several key themes in risk science: a) The main goals and strategies for understanding and managing risk b) How readers can inform their risk stances by considering their own individual values and mission c) The difference between risk and safety, and how that difference is critical for managing risk d) The role of psychological factors when understanding and managing risk e) The role of communication when understanding and managing risk, and f) The general importance and incentives for effectively understanding and managing risk. Written for business professionals in all private and public sectors, this book will also be relevant to non-business professionals such as medical practitioners and policymakers and would be an ideal fit for executive education and seminar-style courses in universities, corporate books clubs and training seminars. Because it's based on foundational and scientifically accepted ideas and principles, the book should remain relevant for many years.

First published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This work examines the responses of unions and workers to regional integration and restructuring in the automobile industry in North and Central America. The focus is on the automobile industry in Mexico, which, because of its size and importance, is viewed as a strategic sector of the Mexican economy and was the focal point of talks between the US, Canada and Mexico during negotiations on NAFTA. Focusing on the period from 1980, John P. Tuman examines the changes implemented by firms to promote export production, he explores reasons for the variation in labour responses to restructuring, and he discusses the prospects for cross-border organizing and co-operation among automobile workers in Canada, the US and Mexico.

The substantial political changes in Eastern Europe and Russia since 1989 have been accompanied by the attempted transfer, imposition, and imitation of labour relations practices and mechanisms from other market economies, primarily of Western Europe. This book addresses the extent to which these transferred labour-relations institutions are likely to take root. The authors offer a comparative analysis of changing labour relations at national level in a range of countries, and the role of governments, international institutions, trade unions, and other agencies. This is supported by in-depth case studies on the processes of transformation at enterprise level. Drawing on the findings of an international research team, analysis of the change process and recent developments is related to the legacies of the socialist system.

'The Art and Ideology of the Trade Union Emblem, 1850-1925' is a groundbreaking book that considers trade union emblems and banners as art objects in their own right. It studies their commissioning, their designers and the social conditions and gender relations that they knowingly or unwittingly reveal.

It's a widely recognised trend that powered-two-wheelers' (PTWs) use has been steadily increasing and is projected to increase further. While providing benefits to the community in the form of reduced traffic congestion and environmental benefits, the risks to PTW riders remain and visibility will always be a key issue. Increasing Motorcycle Conspicuity aims to illustrate how driving simulation, field studies and laboratory experiments can be used to improve rider safety through the design and evaluation of a range of safety measures. The book outlines the factors that contribute to PTW visibility and detection by car drivers, and presents case studies to illustrate how the various methods can be used to explore the contribution of these factors. The final chapter of the book highlights the utility of a simulation-based approach to improving PTW safety and discusses this method's future applications. The case studies collected within the volume cover phases of the design of conspicuity treatments and provide a broad spectrum of empirical strategies for assessing the interventions. The book is most directly relevant to researchers and applied scientists from the fields of traffic/transportation psychology and human factors, as well as to practitioners from the traffic safety sector.

In a dramatic change of role, the noted television and film star has written a vivid and incisive account of the House Committee on Un-American Activities' probe of the entertainment industry from 1938 to 1958. Formed to investigate alleged subversives, by the late fifties the committee had succeeded in ruining the careers and sometimes the lives of many of Hollywood and Broadway's top writers and performers. Quoting generously from transcripts of its hearings, Vaughn shows how the committee's primary purpose was punitive rather than legislative, and concludes that its most serious damage to American theatre and film is not easily documented: the loss of all the words never written or spoken because of the impact - and the fear - of the committee's misdeeds.

International Financial Reporting Standards: A Framework-based Perspective links broad concepts and general accounting principles to the specific requirements of IFRS to help students develop and understand the judgments required in using a principle-based standard. Although it is still unclear whether the US will adopt IFRS, the global business environment makes it necessary for accounting students and professionals to be bilingual in both US GAAP and IFRS. This comprehensive textbook offers: A clear presentation of the concepts underlying IFRS A conceptual framework to guide students in interpreting and applying IFRS rules A comparison between IFRS and US GAAP to develop students' understanding of the requirements of each standard Real world examples and case studies to link accounting theory to practice, while also exposing students to different interpretations and applications of IFRS End of chapter material covering other aspects of financial reporting, including international auditing standards, international ethics standards, and corporate governance and enforcement, as well as emerging topics, such as integrated accounting, sustainability and social responsibility accounting and new forms of financial reporting Burton & Jermakowicz have crafted a thorough and extensive tool to give students a competitive edge in understanding, and applying IFRS. A companion website provides additional support for both students and instructors.

There is perhaps no area of British life where attitudes are more strongly influenced by shared traditions and past experiences than the trade union movement; the memory of the working-class movements is a long one. It is therefore all the more important in the light of recent events to examine the origins and development of trade-union organization over the decades if we are to understand the unions of today, which have emerged as one of the most crucial and strongest elements in the economy. This book is the product of twenty years' detailed research and general reflection on the course of trade-union development, and ranges over the whole field of British trade-union history, from the early craft societies to the structure of modern trade unionism. It begins by illuminating the problems associated with researching and writing in this field, and goes on to trace the main trends of trade-union development, linking these with modern trade-union problems. Particular attention is paid to some of the important aspects of this history - the Owenite period, the so-called New Model unions, the origins of the Trades Union Congress, and more recent changes in trade-union organization. These themes are woven into a broad study which includes detailed investigation of individual trade unions (particularly the printing unions, and also an early employers association) with a general review of the whole movement. Trade-union history is closely bound up with social conditions, and Professor Musson also examines a number of such related aspects as the struggle for a free press, the origins of the co-operative movement and the early factory system. This classic book was first published in 1974.

Financial incentives have long been used to try to influence professional values and practices. Recent events including the global financial crisis and the BP Texas City refinery disaster have been linked to such incentives, with commentators calling for a critical look at these systems given the catastrophic outcomes. Risky Rewards engages with this debate, particularly in the context of the present and potential role of incentives to manage major accident risk in hazardous industries. It examines the extent to which people respond to financial incentives, the potential for perverse consequences, and approaches that most appropriately focus attention on major hazard risk. The book is based in part on an empirical study of bonus arrangements in eleven companies operating in hazardous industries, including oil, gas, chemical and mining.

As robots are used more and more to perform a variety of tasks in a range of fields, it is imperative to make the robots as reliable and safe as possible. Yet no book currently covers robot reliability and safety within one framework. Robot System Reliability and Safety: A Modern Approach presents up-to-date information on robot reliability, safety, and related areas in a single volume, eliminating the need to consult diverse sources. After introducing historical, mathematical, and introductory aspects, the book presents methods for analyzing robot system reliability and safety. It next focuses on topics related to robot reliability, including classifications of robot failures and their causes and hydraulic and electric robots' reliability analysis. The book then explains the analysis of robot-related safety and accidents, covers key elements of robot maintenance and robotics applications in maintenance and repair, and addresses human factors and safety considerations in robotics workplaces. The book concludes with chapters on robot testing, costing, and failure data as well as six mathematical models for reliability and safety analysis. Written by a well-known expert in reliability engineering, this book will be useful to system, design, reliability, and safety engineers along with other engineering professionals working in the area of robotics. It can also be used in courses on system engineering, reliability engineering, and safety engineering.

Designed for clinicians from a variety of backgrounds, this handbook provides useful information regarding long-term treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders. It is intended not only for psychiatrists and neurologists, but also for primary care physicians and non-physician mental health professionals. The book examines maintenance treatment for a comprehensive list of mental illnesses including biopolar disorders, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, and dementia. It provides the clinician with the information needed to select and manage the effective long-range treatment of their patients.