Theories of Costs of Health and Safety Compliance and Non-Compliance with Regulations

Globally, the economics of health and safety compliance and non-compliance with regulations remains absurd and elusive. Costs of health and safety compliance at enterprise level are elements that organisations find difficult to define or price adequately due to subtle, inconspicuous, and elusive nature. Conversely, evidence shows that costs of health and safety non-compliance with regulations in recent times are eye-watering and mind-boggling. Yet, theory that provides explanation of cost behaviours concerning health and safety compliance and non-compliance with regulations is rare. Aim: The aim of the study is to develop a theoretical concept that can be used to predict costs of health and safety non-compliance with regulations. Research question: put forward by the paper is: What are the predictable cost behaviours of health and safety compliance and non-compliance with regulations? Research Method: Phenomenological research strategy was adopted; with qualitative data collected via focus group discussions; in addition to detailed observation of 20 years real costs of health and safety non-compliance with regulations data. Findings: Reveal that costs of health and safety compliance with regulations are often ill-defined and elusive. Similarly, the study discovered that cost behaviour of health and safety non-compliance with regulations can be erratic and exponential in nature. Other finding reveals that for every health and safety failure (ill-health, injuries/fatalities), there are likely associated costs, that are contingent on specific legislations, rule of law, state (national laws), and commercial viability of organisation involved

Empirical Assessment of Social Motivation and Performance of Informal Entrepreneurs in Computer Village, Lagos State

The current upsurge of unemployment in Nigeria can be downplayed by entrepreneurship, an economic driver which reflects negatively on the adopted mono-economy of Nigeria with her dependence on oil rather than attaining a multi-diversification in all sectors. The informal entrepreneurship has proved its stance positively in curbing the unemployment issues in all sector and yet there seems to be an aggressive action taken towards its sustainability by the government and in this study, Nigeria. The study focuses on the need to understand the level of social drive in relationship to the performance attained by the informal entrepreneurs. In this regards, the propelling force to why the informal entrepreneur with governmental regulation have a positive performance and this was conducted in Computer village, Ikeja, Lagos. The explorative and causal research was adopted for the study. Survey research was considered appropriate for the study. 250 copies of questionnaire were distributed and 205 were returned depicting 82%. Analysis was done using the SPSS package and the hypothesis tested suggested that there is a significant relationship between social motivators and business competitiveness in the informal electronic market at 5 percent significant level, thereby accepting the alternate hypothesis. This study recommends that the place of family support has been noted to highly affect the motivation of the business and to this end, the basic support gotten from the government should be redesigned (i.e. schools, health), such that the remaining income will be used for expansion or transition while performance is primed

Procedures and Performance of a Robotic Machining System with Metrology-In-The-Loop Feedback Control

In Recent Years, the Use of Industrial Robots in Advanced Manufacturing Applications Has Become Increasingly Popular. with Larger Workspaces and Lower Costs Relative to More Traditional Machine Tools, the Use of Robots Has Significant Upsides in Machining Applications. However, Due to their Relatively Low Accuracy, the Use of Industrial Robots in These Applications is Limited. One Way to Improve Robot Accuracy is to Provide Feedback Control Via External Sensors Such as Laser Trackers. This Paper Presents Several Techniques Used to Identify Key Parameters for a Laser Tracker Controlled Robotic Machining System. Specifically, Transformations between the Coordinate Frames within the System Are Crucial to its Performance Since Error in These Parameters Are Generally Not Observable by the Feedback System. the Identification Methods Are Used to Perform Full-Scale Machining Experiments. These Experiments Demonstrate the Improved Machining Performance of the Laser Tracker Controlled Robotic Machining System When Compared to the Machining Performance Without Feedback Control

Home ownership, social costs, and wellbeing in self residence: the case of employees of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

The study assessed home ownership, social costs and wellbeing in self residence in Nigeria using the employees of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife as case study. Structured questionnaire was designed to elicit information from 279 respondents that were selected using convenience sampling method. Both descriptive and quantitative methods were employed in the analyses. The study revealed elements of economic and social dysfunctionality brought by dynamics of experiences of homeowners. This was made manifest in the form of personal provisions for water, electricity, roads, and partial completion in homes. It also manifested in the form of qualitative attributes which made it non competitive to discharge some academic responsibilities as effective as it ought to be if camp us residence were made available. Despite the challenges in terms of social costs in home ownership, the cultural orientation of Nigerians still deems it worth it to own a home. The study finally recommended an adjustment in OAU staff housing policy for academic and non-academic staff, and family sizes are getting smaller and families disperse, it behooves that new housing architectural design for housing units responding to evolving family sizes are necessary, and facilitation of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) for the availability and affordability of public water and electricity supplies.ASC – Publicaties niet-programma gebonde

Leveraging big data for improving the estimation of close-to-reality travel time to obstetric emergency services in urban low- and middle-income settings

Maternal and perinatal mortality remain huge challenges globally, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where >98% of these deaths occur. Emergency obstetric care (EmOC) provided by skilled health personnel is an evidence-based package of interventions effective in reducing these deaths associated with pregnancy and childbirth. Until recently, pregnant women residing in urban areas have been considered to have good access to care, including EmOC. However, emerging evidence shows that due to rapid urbanization, this so called “urban advantage” is shrinking and in some LMIC settings, it is almost non-existent. This poses a complex challenge for structuring an effective health service delivery system, which tend to have poor spatial planning especially in LMIC settings. To optimize access to EmOC and ultimately reduce preventable maternal deaths within the context of urbanization, it is imperative to accurately locate areas and population groups that are geographically marginalized. Underpinning such assessments is accurately estimating travel time to health facilities that provide EmOC. In this perspective, we discuss strengths and weaknesses of approaches commonly used to estimate travel times to EmOC in LMICs, broadly grouped as reported and modeled approaches, while contextualizing our discussion in urban areas. We then introduce the novel OnTIME project, which seeks to address some of the key limitations in these commonly used approaches by leveraging big data. The perspective concludes with a discussion on anticipated outcomes and potential policy applications of the OnTIME project