title: Evaluation of effectiveness of the working at heights training in New Zealand

authors: Kambadur, Ravi

subjects: Working at Heights

abstract: Around 2.5 million New Zealanders go to work every day meaning that for a majority of the New Zealanders, being at work constitutes a considerable part of their lives.  Therefore,  the health and safety of the employees at work is of utmost importance.  Among many professions in New Zealand, the construction industry is thriving and it also involves “working at heights”.  Unfortunately, construction and other working at heights professions are risk prone since a large number of deaths and injuries of the workers are reported every year.  Although a majority of the workers undergo training, the industry is still plagued by significantly large number of accidents and deaths.   This study therefore, examined the effectiveness of the working at heights training.  Specifically, the study addressed how effective the training was in improving the employee safety  knowledge, behaviour, risk acceptance, confidence,  commitment and work practices.  Furthermore, the training was also evaluated for its ability to reduce some of the hindrance factors and to improve on the facilitating factors.  
This study adopted a cross-sectional design utilising the self-reported data from 429  participants aged 15 to 64 years.  The participants included the pre-training cohort  with  no prior working at heights training (Pre-training) or the workers who had undergone training (Post-training)  6 Months or 12 Months or 24 Months prior to the survey. The results of the current study illustrate that the training significantly improves the safety knowledge and safety climate and reduces the risky behaviour and personal hindrance factors.  In addition, the results suggest that the safety knowledge and other aspects of the safety climate and attitude would be retained even after 2 years of the training (24 Months).  Comparison of the results between the pre and post-training  surveys indicates that the training is effective in improving the safety knowledge of working at heights.   Among the safety climate parameters, the training was proven to be effective in significantly improving the safety behaviour, confidence and safety commitment.  The training is found to be effective in reducing the risk acceptance behaviour, and improving the employee work practices.  In addition, the survey results clearly indicate that the management provides full support and backs the implementation of the safety regulations with resources.  Finally, the survey confirms that the training is very effective in reducing the personal hindrance factors and improving co-worker relationship factors.  Collectively, the results from the current study confirm that the training is effective in improving the safety knowledge, behaviour and safety climate.  
The implications of  the findings of the current study are several.  The results imply that VHNZ working at heights training is successful in imparting confidence in the workers so that they could stop co-workers from taking risks and therefore reduce injuries and improve the safety record. The results implicate that, for improving the safety record of the employees, it is essential to offer job specific safety training rather than a generic health and safety training. The study results indicate that “refresher training” is essential for the long term retention of the safety knowledge and behaviour.  Therefore, one of the implications for VHNZ is to come up with standard guidelines for the “periodicity” of the refresher training and provide that at appropriate times.

text: Evaluation of effectiveness of the working at heights training in New Zealand Around 2.5 million New Zealanders go to work every day meaning that for a majority of the New Zealanders, being at work constitutes a considerable part of their lives.  Therefore,  the health and safety of the employees at work is of utmost importance.  Among many professions in New Zealand, the construction industry is thriving and it also involves “working at heights”.  Unfortunately, construction and other working at heights professions are risk prone since a large number of deaths and injuries of the workers are reported every year.  Although a majority of the workers undergo training, the industry is still plagued by significantly large number of accidents and deaths.   This study therefore, examined the effectiveness of the working at heights training.  Specifically, the study addressed how effective the training was in improving the employee safety  knowledge, behaviour, risk acceptance, confidence,  commitment and work practices.  Furthermore, the training was also evaluated for its ability to reduce some of the hindrance factors and to improve on the facilitating factors.  
This study adopted a cross-sectional design utilising the self-reported data from 429  participants aged 15 to 64 years.  The participants included the pre-training cohort  with  no prior working at heights training (Pre-training) or the workers who had undergone training (Post-training)  6 Months or 12 Months or 24 Months prior to the survey. The results of the current study illustrate that the training significantly improves the safety knowledge and safety climate and reduces the risky behaviour and personal hindrance factors.  In addition, the results suggest that the safety knowledge and other aspects of the safety climate and attitude would be retained even after 2 years of the training (24 Months).  Comparison of the results between the pre and post-training  surveys indicates that the training is effective in improving the safety knowledge of working at heights.   Among the safety climate parameters, the training was proven to be effective in significantly improving the safety behaviour, confidence and safety commitment.  The training is found to be effective in reducing the risk acceptance behaviour, and improving the employee work practices.  In addition, the survey results clearly indicate that the management provides full support and backs the implementation of the safety regulations with resources.  Finally, the survey confirms that the training is very effective in reducing the personal hindrance factors and improving co-worker relationship factors.  Collectively, the results from the current study confirm that the training is effective in improving the safety knowledge, behaviour and safety climate.  
The implications of  the findings of the current study are several.  The results imply that VHNZ working at heights training is successful in imparting confidence in the workers so that they could stop co-workers from taking risks and therefore reduce injuries and improve the safety record. The results implicate that, for improving the safety record of the employees, it is essential to offer job specific safety training rather than a generic health and safety training. The study results indicate that “refresher training” is essential for the long term retention of the safety knowledge and behaviour.  Therefore, one of the implications for VHNZ is to come up with standard guidelines for the “periodicity” of the refresher training and provide that at appropriate times.

year: 2020

title: Managing personal documents with a digital library

authors: Jaballah, Imene

subjects: computer science

abstract: This paper presents a desktop system for managing personal documents. The documents can be of many types—text, spreadsheets, images, multimedia—and are organized in a personal “digital library”. The interface supports browsing over a wide variety of document metadata, as well as full-text searching. This extensive browsing facility addresses a significant flaw in digital library and file management software, both of which typically provide less support for browsing than for searching, and support relatively inflexible browsing methods. Three separate usability studies of a prototype—an expert evaluation, a learnability evaluation, and a diary study—were conducted to suggest design refinements, which were then incorporated into the final system.

text: Managing personal documents with a digital library This paper presents a desktop system for managing personal documents. The documents can be of many types—text, spreadsheets, images, multimedia—and are organized in a personal “digital library”. The interface supports browsing over a wide variety of document metadata, as well as full-text searching. This extensive browsing facility addresses a significant flaw in digital library and file management software, both of which typically provide less support for browsing than for searching, and support relatively inflexible browsing methods. Three separate usability studies of a prototype—an expert evaluation, a learnability evaluation, and a diary study—were conducted to suggest design refinements, which were then incorporated into the final system.

year: 2005

title: Outdoor learning in Aotearoa New Zealand: voices past, present, and future

authors: Cosgriff, Marg

subjects: culture

abstract: Many of the principles and practices that have influenced outdoor education in Aotearoa New Zealand find their genesis in the United Kingdom and North America. In recent times, many of these foundational assumptions have been called into question. This paper highlights how emerging 'local' voices are questioning and reframing how outdoor education is conceptualised and practiced. In large part this is due to a sense of distinctiveness borne from the bicultural foundations that underpin governance and policy-making. This paper explores how outdoor educators are developing pedagogies that acknowledge the particularities of our context, particularly the bicultural foundation of Aotearoa New Zealand. The paper highlights how social and cultural influences shape educational policy and how outdoor educators are responding, both theoretically and practically, to meet the needs of learners in an increasingly diverse society.

text: Outdoor learning in Aotearoa New Zealand: voices past, present, and future Many of the principles and practices that have influenced outdoor education in Aotearoa New Zealand find their genesis in the United Kingdom and North America. In recent times, many of these foundational assumptions have been called into question. This paper highlights how emerging 'local' voices are questioning and reframing how outdoor education is conceptualised and practiced. In large part this is due to a sense of distinctiveness borne from the bicultural foundations that underpin governance and policy-making. This paper explores how outdoor educators are developing pedagogies that acknowledge the particularities of our context, particularly the bicultural foundation of Aotearoa New Zealand. The paper highlights how social and cultural influences shape educational policy and how outdoor educators are responding, both theoretically and practically, to meet the needs of learners in an increasingly diverse society.

year: 2012