scholarly journals Workplace Death at Sea: Chinese Surviving Families’ Experiences of Compensation Claims

2017 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Desai Shan
Keyword(s):  
Economic Loss ◽  
Industrial Workers ◽  
Financial Loss ◽  
Weak State ◽  
Work Related ◽  
The Social ◽  
Psychological Harm ◽  
Compensation Claims ◽  
Administrative Procedures ◽  
Workplace Fatalities

Seafaring remains one of the most adventurous yet dangerous forms of work. Compared to shore-based industrial workers, seafarers suffer a risk of fatality that is up to 11 times higher. Workplace fatality is proved to be harmful to the social, financial and health conditions of surviving families. Although there has been an increase in attention given to the improvement of seafarers’ health and working conditions at sea, the effects of death at sea on surviving families has remained neglected by both researchers and policymakers. Drawing on in-depth interviews conducted with eight surviving family members in 2013 and 2014, this study investigates seafarers’ surviving families’ experiences of raising death compensation claims in China, which has the world’s largest population of seafarers. The work-related fatalities occurred between 2005 and 2013. At the time of the study, 2.4 years had elapsed on average since the deaths took place. All research participants reported considerable difficulties in communicating with crewing agencies and contacting ship owners when making compensation claims. This study shows that surviving families are in a vulnerable position when in conflict with companies. It also reveals that weak state prevention forces surviving families to defend their rights through protests. The absence of regulation over organizations involved in foreign-related employment relationships exacerbates the economic loss and mental harm suffered by surviving families following the occurrence of workplace fatalities. Furthermore, current legal and administrative procedures are unable to restore justice and provide therapeutic help for surviving families. Consequently, surviving families have suffered considerable financial loss and additional psychological harm in claim processes.

scholarly journals Quantification of PV Power and Economic Losses Due to Soiling in Qatar

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3364
Author(s):  
Amr Zeedan ◽  
Abdulaziz Barakeh ◽  
Khaled Al-Fakhroo ◽  
Farid Touati ◽  
Antonio S. P. Gonzales
Keyword(s):  
Output Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Economic Loss ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Energy Yield ◽  
Solar Pv ◽  
Financial Loss ◽  
Grid Systems ◽  
Dust Density

Soiling losses of photovoltaic (PV) panels due to dust lead to a significant decrease in solar energy yield and result in economic losses; this hence poses critical challenges to the viability of PV in smart grid systems. In this paper, these losses are quantified under Qatar’s harsh environment. This quantification is based on experimental data from long-term measurements of various climatic parameters and the output power of PV panels located in Qatar University’s Solar facility in Doha, Qatar, using a customized measurement and monitoring setup. A data processing algorithm was deliberately developed and applied, which aimed to correlate output power to ambient dust density in the vicinity of PV panels. It was found that, without cleaning, soiling reduced the output power by 43% after six months of exposure to an average ambient dust density of 0.7 mg/m3. The power and economic loss that would result from this power reduction for Qatar’s ongoing solar PV projects has also been estimated. For example, for the Al-Kharasaah project power plant, similar soiling loss would result in about a 10% power decrease after six months for typical ranges of dust density in Qatar’s environment; this, in turn, would result in an 11,000 QAR/h financial loss. This would pose a pressing need to mitigate soiling effects in PV power plants.

scholarly journals Towards a Functional Performance Validation Standard for Industrial Low-Back Exoskeletons: State of the Art Review

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 808
Author(s):  
Mattia Pesenti ◽  
Alberto Antonietti ◽  
Marta Gandolla ◽  
Alessandra Pedrocchi
Keyword(s):  
Functional Performance ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Productivity Loss ◽  
Evaluation Criteria ◽  
The State ◽  
Low Back ◽  
Industrial Workers ◽  
Rigorous Evaluation ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Absence From Work

While the research interest for exoskeletons has been rising in the last decades, missing standards for their rigorous evaluation are potentially limiting their adoption in the industrial field. In this context, exoskeletons for worker support have the aim to reduce the physical effort required by humans, with dramatic social and economic impact. Indeed, exoskeletons can reduce the occurrence and the entity of work-related musculoskeletal disorders that often cause absence from work, resulting in an eventual productivity loss. This very urgent and multifaceted issue is starting to be acknowledged by researchers. This article provides a systematic review of the state of the art for functional performance evaluation of low-back exoskeletons for industrial workers. We report the state-of-the-art evaluation criteria and metrics used for such a purpose, highlighting the lack of a standard for this practice. Very few studies carried out a rigorous evaluation of the assistance provided by the device. To address also this topic, the article ends with a proposed framework for the functional validation of low-back exoskeletons for the industry, with the aim to pave the way for the definition of rigorous industrial standards.

scholarly journals Perception and Preference for Home-Based Telework in the COVID-19 Era: A Gender-Based Analysis in Hanoi, Vietnam

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3179
Author(s):  
Minh Hieu Nguyen ◽  
Jimmy Armoogum
Keyword(s):  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Sustainable Development Goal ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Home Based ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Government ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
Using Data

The rapid and widespread of COVID-19 has caused severe multifaceted effects on society but differently in women and men, thereby preventing the achievement of gender equality (the 5th sustainable development goal of the United Nations). This study, using data of 355 teleworkers collected in Hanoi (Vietnam) during the first social distancing period, aims at exploring how (dis)similar factors associated with the perception and the preference for more home-based telework (HBT) for male teleworkers versus female peers are. The findings show that 56% of female teleworkers compared to 45% of male counterparts had a positive perception of HBT within the social distancing period and 63% of women desired to telework more in comparison with 39% of men post-COVID-19. Work-related factors were associated with the male perception while family-related factors influenced the female perception. There is a difference in the effects of the same variables (age and children in the household) on the perception and the preference for HBT for females. For women, HBT would be considered a solution post-COVID-19 to solve the burden existing pre-COVID-19 and increasing in COVID-19. Considering gender inequality is necessary for the government and authorities to lessen the adverse effects of COVID-19 on the lives of citizens, especially female ones, in developing countries.

Note on the Social Impact of Assertiveness in Occupational Contexts

1985 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 819-822 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Regis McNamara ◽  
Ronald J. Delamater
Keyword(s):  
Social Impact ◽  
Social Outcomes ◽  
Measurement Systems ◽  
Job Seeking ◽  
Work Related ◽  
The Social ◽  
Seeking Behavior ◽  
Assertive Behavior ◽  
Variable Impact

The extent to which the literature shows assertiveness produces favorable social outcomes in several occupational contexts was examined. Assertive job-seeking behavior may have a variable impact depending on such factors as the riskiness of the behavior, the size of the company, and the nature of the pool of applicants. Managers view assertive behavior, displayed in work-related interactions, more favorably than self-effacing behavior. Assertive customers more readily stand up for their rights and have more positive perceptions of business than nonassertive consumers. Less reliance on analogue studies and improved measurement systems for assessing social reactivity to assertiveness were recommended.

Mobile Business Effects on Employees' Social Life

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Husam Alfahl
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Work Family Conflict ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Mobile Business ◽  
Business Services ◽  
Work Related ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Impact

The use of mobile devices and smartphones is increasingly becoming a critical part of many people’s lifestyle. Such usage can vary from playing games to accomplishing work-related tasks. Being able to use organizations’ persuasive technologies via mobile business services or to achieve work-related tasks ubiquitously at any time means that such devices provide a valuable service, especially for employees who are working online. This paper explores the impact of mBusiness on the social life of employees. In the research, structural equation modeling was applied to validate the research model. Employees in Saudi organizations were surveyed to test the research hypotheses. The research results confirmed that there are some negative effects of using mBusiness technologies on the social life of employees. Based on the analysis, the findings revealed that addiction to mBusiness technologies significantly increases the perceived work overload, which also significantly increases work-family conflict. The paper concludes with some implications of this research.

scholarly journals Albert Camus’ The Plague in Twenty-First Century’s Pandemic Covid-19- A Reification Model in the Capitalistic World

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 47-58
Author(s):  
Farheen Shakir
Keyword(s):  
Economic System ◽  
Albert Camus ◽  
Economic Loss ◽  
Use Value ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Capitalist System ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
The Social ◽  
Capitalistic Society

Covid-19 has emerged as the new global pandemic in 2020, engulfing thousands of lives in the capitalistic economic system. Reification, in such a materialistic world, commodifies human beings for possessing use-value. The workers transform themselves into dehumanized labor product of Capitalism as a historical project. The economic loss during the current pandemic has changed the outlook of the global capitalist system. The human beings have transformed into productive devices. Lukacs’ Theory of Reification has been applied to Albert Camus' The Plague (1948) to analyze how the epidemics change human conditions and convert them into lifeless products. Such reification leads to alienation of the human beings. The social, political, religious, and medical references and their applicability in the current world suggest the parallelism and universality of Camus' works, especially in the context of current capitalistic society, under siege of Covid-19. The research is a breakthrough in comprehending Capitalism as historically and materialistically intertwined in the current pandemic world, whereby human beings have lost human traits and become reified models of Capitalism. Now, the urge to reform compels to re-determine the morality of human beings.

scholarly journals Analysis of factors related to granting sickness benefits to industry workers on leave due to Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSD)

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. e22610212346
Author(s):  
Leonildo Santos do Nascimento Júnior ◽  
Roberta de Fátima Carreira Moreira Padovez ◽  
Lorenna Marinho Ferreira ◽  
Eleazar Marinho de Freitas Lucena ◽  
Catarina de Oliveira Sousa
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
Musculoskeletal Disorders ◽  
Rehabilitation Program ◽  
Industrial Workers ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders ◽  
Sickness Benefits ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Social Security Institute

Background: Sickness absence represents a serious problem for industry and Social Security, since many of these workers become beneficiaries by the National Social Security Institute. The relationship between the factors that lead to dismissal and granting benefits to workers in the industry has yet to be studied. Objective: To determine the relationship between social and occupational factors to granting sickness benefits to industrial workers affected by Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders. Methods: This is a retrospective cross-sectional with quantitative approach study involving industrial workers. The data contained in the evaluation form of workers who were admitted between 2016 and 2020 in a Reference Centers in Occupational Health were used. The data were descriptively evaluated and a logistic regression model was used to estimate the factors which are related to the type of assistance granted to the workers. Results: 108 medical records of industry workers were evaluated and 56.5% received the accident-related sickness assistance benefit (B-91). Most are workers from industry with light demand (95.4%), who perform repetitive work (93.5%), intense work pace (83.3%), with the shoulder being the region most frequently affected (85.2%). The factors that were significantly related to grating accidental-related sickness benefit: time in the current occupation (OR = 1.01), work involving cervical spine flexion (OR = 4.68), participation in the rehabilitation program (OR = 31.27) and referral to specialist consultations (OR = 3.10). Conclusion: The creation of institutional programs in the industry and the implementation of public health and social security policies are necessary to manage these factors.

scholarly journals Evaluation of hillslope failure and community adjustment after extreme weather event, Waimarama 26-27 April, 2011

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Albert Edward Frampton
Keyword(s):  
Water Content ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
Extreme Event ◽  
Extreme Rainfall ◽  
Field Measurements ◽  
Economic Loss ◽  
Laboratory Analysis ◽  
Annual Rainfall ◽  
Financial Loss ◽  
North West

<p>In 2011, Waimarama received 80% of its annual rainfall in 48 hours. This extreme event with a return period of >100 years caused saturated hillslopes to collapse forming 100s of shallow landslides in the Puhokio Valley. This study collected soil samples from 54 exposed slip scarp horizons for laboratory analysis of soil mechanical properties. Field measurements of slip and slope angles, length, width and depth to determine that 23,212m³ of sediment was volume lost, from the 54 landslides. The field and lab measurements were used to generate a coherent understanding of landsliding at Waimarama. Laboratory analysis for liquid limits water content showed a high of 88.5% to a low of 18.8% and plastic limit water content had a high of 51% in the A horizon (organics) and low of 16.1%. Specific gravity also indicated a high reading 1.74 g/cm³ with a low of 1.16 g/cm³. The A horizon was able to tolerate high levels of water content in most tests, while the B horizon was capable of coping with some increase in water content. The C horizon was only able to handle low volumes of water, and was the main initiator of regolith collapse. The laboratory results indicated high saturation levels within the horizons of weak lithology of marine regolith that over caps impervious marine bedrock. The main cause for hillslope collapse and exposure of multiple translational and debris flow landslides was extreme saturation. However, towards the height of the rainfall event a 4.5 magnitude earthquake was recorded with unknown collateral consequences. Most slip locations were found in the aspects of east, south-east, west, and north-west, and on slope angles 15 -25°. The study confirmed previous surveys that regolith depth 80-100cm on impervious sandstone, siltstone/mudstone, when saturated over lengthy wet spells or from extreme precipitation, will collapse. In addition to the physical geographic study a survey was included to record individual and family accounts of the weather phenomenon. A questionnaire was prepared with specific questions that required yes or no answers. These questions dealt with loss of buildings, loss of land, animals, financial loss and recovery, economic loss, insurance and mitigation plans. The most affected were farmers and the next affected were householders while the holiday park was the worst affected of small businesses. Insurance was a significant help in most recoveries. Land rehabilitation was mitigated with new plantings and some aerial sowing, otherwise many slips were left to revegetate naturally. Economic and financial loss was severe for most farmers, due to pasture loss and animal relocation. Extreme rainfall causes slips that affect humans, but they can be mitigated. The Waimarama event is one of many events that can happen countrywide, the results can be a disastrous loss of personal, economic and financial assets, loss of infrastructure, including roading, bridges and communication. These are factors that many people and communities only realise when it happens to them. Mitigation against such events might include adequate insurance and knowledge of what to do, and where to go should an event happen unexpectedly and without warning.</p>

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