ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Safari Park Resort (Shai-Hills)

Within the context of the Forest Resource Management programme, the Ghana Government and the World Bank, have agreed on a comprehensive and systematic evaluation of wildlife protected areas in Ghana and develop plans to meet their conservation requirement for tourism. Shai Hills, Game Reserve was established by Ghana Wildlife Department to conserve flora and fauna as well as tourism opportunities. Unfortunately due to certain factors, the aims of the Reserve are not met. Animal populations have failed to expand, some have lessened and the natural flora is seriously threatened from Invasion of exotics. Furthermore, in spite of its relative proximity to Accra, and other urbanised areas, visitor interest is low. Presently the area is under-utilised by educationalist and researchers, due to poor management practices and facilities. The aim of this project is to find functional linkages between conservation of biological diversity, local socio-economic development and cultural tradition. This is because it is an accepted fact that for protected areas to survive in a long term, local people must be beneficiaries of the protected area. WILDFLIFE IN THE NATIONAL CONTEXT At present, Ghana has is protected terrestrial areas of different categories under the Ghana Wildlife department which extends over 1, 247,600 ha. or 5.2% of the country. These are: (I) National Parks (ii) Wildlife Sanctuaries (iii) Nature Reserves (iv) Wetland Ramsar Sites. Shai Hill Game Reserve is one of the protected areas declared as such. The some objectives of the protected areas in Ghana are as if. (i) Conservation of Valuable natural heritage (ii) Preservation and maintenance of natural processes (iii) Protection of some endangered species (iv) Promotion of tourism i.e. ecotourism. However, due to inherent problem within the Ghana wildlife department, it is difficult to achieve their objectives to the fullest, especially in the area of tourism. In view of these bottlenecks within G.W.D, it has outlined a policy on tourism to out-source research into tourism and award of concessions to tourist operators in some protected areas by paying ground rents to develop tourist facilities.

Source: KNUST
S. M. I. Formation Centre, Kulnaba, Ghana

A formation Centre is essentially an establishment for the training or formation of the Religious, be they Nuns, Brothers or Religious priests in the Roman Catholic Church. This is “THE SCHOOL OF THE HEART” and “NOT THE INTELLECT”. Because of this principal fact, this thesis has set out to design not only a formation centre, but other facilities which in relation to the centre, will make the formation process more meaningful, as well as turn out products who will be recognised by the society for what they really are. Retreat and vocational training facilities will be provided to help meet the need for such facilities in the Navronga - Bolgatanga Diocese. There has been the intention to break away, as much as is practicable from the traditional setting of’ a formation centre which is not practicable for our time. The following facilities have been provided: — Postulate — Novitiate — Senior — Junior Convent — Infirmary — Special Meditation zone — Demonstration stock for vocational training — Maternity Block — Cemetery.

Source: KNUST
Safe working conditions and its effects on employee performance (in the health sector): a case of Battor Catholic Hospital.

Though it is rational to relate poor performance to poor working conditions, there are incomplete documents showing how poor working conditions impact health provider productivity, competence and responsiveness. While some of the reviewed studies done in Ghana have looked at health worker performance and working environment factors, majority of these studies have focused on how motivation, supervision, skills to perform the given work, and availability of working tools affect performance but rarely look into the function of working environment and performance of health workers, especially, focusing on how working environment affect the availability, competence, productivity and responsiveness as they affect constituent parts of performance of health workers in healthcare. To this end, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of working conditions on the performance of employees at the Battor Catholic Hospital. The objectives of this research were to determine the perception of safe work environment on employees' performance; assess the effect of employees' health on their work performance, understand the relationship between the employee characteristics and their working environment and lastly, suggest the measures to enhance the working conditions for better performance. The descriptive research design was used for this work. Ninety (90) respondents were randomly selected for the study and questionnaire was the research instrument used to collect primary data. The data collected was analysed quantitatively after scaling Likert items and results presented through charts and tables. The findings of this research have shown that there is enough evidence to suggest that working conditions at the place of work impacts on the job performance from employees' perspectives. It has been shown that, employees are generally not satisfied with their working conditions and have indicated which areas they are dissatisfied and would like to see improvement in. The researcher recommends that management should pay attention to the needs of the employees as regards to their working conditions, such as the provision of ergonomic (suitable) furniture, ventilation and air condition; as this can help improve theperformance at the place of work significantly at both the individual and organization levels. Health and safety measures should be in place and employees should be trained on how to use the emergency facilities in case of a problem.

Source: KNUST
Safety climate in the Ghanaian printing industry

The concept of safety climate has gained attention from safety experts as one of the most efficient and effective ways to deal with occupational accidents and injuries across industries. This paper explores the safety climate and the effect of employees’ demographic variables on the safety climate perception in the printing industry. We adopted the Safety Climate Scale (SCS) developed by Ghahramani and Khalkhali to measure the safety climate in the print manufacturing industry of Ghana. Our findings, based on all the dimensions in the scale, revealed an unsafe safety climate. Also, there was a correlation between demographic factors (age, gender, experience, and education) and perception of workplace safety climate. The major contribution of this paper is to extend empirical research that provides a greater understanding of the health and safety environment within the printing industry of Ghana and the personal and collective attitudes and patterns of behaviour that determine the commitment to organisations’ health and safety practices. These findings are important for managers in the printing industry because they provide evidence about the current safety climate so that management can take the action to reduce risks and improve performance. To improve the safety climate, we recommend that management and other stakeholders within the printing industry must commit and communicate effectively, embrace safety practices and procedures, and be more accountable and responsible to minimise the effects of a poor safety climate.

Source: KNUST
Safety Assessment of the Ethanolic Leaf Extract of Launaea Taraxacifolia (Willd) of the Family Asteraceae in Rodents

Launaea taraxacifolia is a very important herb used as medicine and / or food in the West African Sub-region. This study therefore investigated its safety in rodents. Administration of the extract (10-5000 mg/kg) to mice and rats in acute and sub-acute toxicity studies did not have any negative effect on the physical, haematological and serum biochemical parameters assessed. However, serum creatinine and urea were significantly decreased in extract-treated animals compared to the vehicle treated control group indicating possible reno-protective ability. The liver was not affected by treatment with the extract. The reno-protective effect of the extract was investigated against gentamicin sulphate (GS)-induced nephrotoxicity (160 mg/kg, i.p). Plasma creatinine, urea, total protein, electrolyte and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels increased significantly as a result of gentamicin treatment but these increases were reversed by treatment with the extract. Photomicrographs of the kidney showed less damage in the extract-treated groups especially at higher doses indicating a possible protective effect of the extract on the kidney. In a pentobarbitone-induced sleeping time experiment the extract (1000 and 2000 mg/kg) shortened sleep latency and increased the duration of sleeping time significantly in mice but not in rats. Similarly, treatment with the extract for 14 days shortened sleep latency and increased the duration of sleeping time at 2000 mg/kg significantly. The extract at 300 and 1000 mg/kg, p.o. given for 7 days did not cause any significant difference in the levels of hepatic cytochrome P450 enzymes but caused significant decrease in spontaneous locomotor activity in mice at higher doses. Treatment with the extract at (1, 2, 5 and 10 mg/kg, p.o.), showed a possible antidiarrhoeal property. In castor oil-induced defecation, enteropooling and intestinal transit, there were statistically significant decrease shown in defecation and small intestinal transit but not in enteropooling compared to the vehicle-treated control groups. The remarkable antidiarrhoeal effect showed in small intestinal transit and castor oil-induced defecation shows that it could be useful in the management of diarrhoea.

Source: KNUST
Safety implication of pedestrian crossing manoeuvres - a case study on urban roads in the New Juaben Municipality

Pedestrian fatalities constitute 42% of road traffic casualties in Ghana. Sixty-eight percent (68%) of pedestrian casualties occur in the event of pedestrians crossing roads. Pedestrians’ road crossing behavior is a very important consideration for the analysis of pedestrian casualties. This study evaluates the safety implications of pedestrian crossing manoeuvre in an urbanized environment using the New Juaben Municipality as a case study. The evaluation is conducted from the perspectives of pedestrian safety records, designated crosswalk points assessment and pedestrians’ road crossing behavior at respective crosswalk points. Pedestrian safety analysis was conducted through the review of five (5) years historical crash data for the study area. Designated crosswalk assessment was conducted through an inventory survey of the crosswalk options and the analyses of the timing allocated to pedestrians at signalized crosswalks respectively. The study of pedestrian road crossing behavior was based on a users’ observational survey and interviews. Analysis of pedestrian safety records for the study area showed a comparatively lower pedestrian fatality record (16%) compared to the National and Eastern Regional pedestrian fatality proportions of 41 % and 40% of all pedestrian casualties respectively. Over 96% of the crosswalk facilities were either a zebra crosswalk or a signalized crosswalk with zebra crosswalks being the dominate type (72%). Time allocated to pedestrians at signalized crosswalks were inadequate as they experience delays in excess of forty (40) seconds at these locations. Analysis of pedestrian road crossing behavior showed that 48% of pedestrians use crosswalks correctly while 23% of pedestrians cross at non-designated locations. The study proposes a combination of measures, i.e, education on the safety benefits of designated crosswalk use and a review of crosswalk operations to improve the safety of pedestrians in the New Juaben Municipality.

Source: KNUST
Safety of antimalarial drugs exposure during early pregnancy

Inadequately controlled malaria infection in pregnancy is associated with poor maternal and fetal outcomes. However, there are important questions about drug safety for mothers with malaria and their fetuses as, currently, there is limited safety data on many of the medications used. The objective of this review is to determine from published evidence the safety of antimalarial drugs exposure during early pregnancy, focusing on abortions, stillbirths, and congenital abnormalities. Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Malaria in Pregnancy databases from their inception to June 2013, inclusive, for reports published in English only. Data were extracted on exposure to antimalarial drugs during early pregnancy and adverse pregnancy outcomes including congenital abnormalities, stillbirth, and miscarriage. Results: Twenty-two publications including one abstract with a total of 6,333 early pregnancy exposures to antimalarial agents used for treatment and/or prevention of malaria in pregnancy met the inclusion criteria. More than 40% of the pregnancies were exposed to mefloquine, about 10% to artemisinin based regimens and, 15.2% and 14.7% were exposed to chloroquine and quinine, respectively. A total of 1,199 adverse outcomes including abortions, stillbirths, and congenital abnormalities were reported. The reported absolute risks of adverse outcomes were similar for all the antimalarial exposures, but, in two publications, increased risk of stillbirths was linked to mefloquine exposure. Extensive heterogeneity and variability in the way in which authors assessed, recorded, and reported safety data precluded formal meta-analysis. Conclusion: The absolute estimates of risks obtained in the included studies are difficult to interpret and the clinical significance of any association of adverse outcomes reported with antimalarial exposure in early pregnancy is uncertain. Well planned, executed, and analyzed studies are needed to confirm whether there is increased risk for adverse fetal outcomes attributable to exposure of first trimester pregnancies to antimalarials compared to relevant controls.

Source: KNUST
Safety performance of road contractors in Ghana

Occupational safety practice is of utmost importance in the construction industry because the industry is widely regarded as an accident prone one. In many developed countries, there are statutory instruments and legislative frameworks that govern construction operations on site. In the year 2000, the Labour Department reported that the construction industry in Ghana accounted for the highest rate of occupational deaths in comparison to other industrial sectors. There are a lot of researches on occupational health and safety but attention is not drawn to the performance of the road construction industry in terms of safety practices in Ghana. The overall purpose of this study was to empirically evaluate the safety performance of road construction companies in Ghana. In order to collect relevant data for the study, the entire work was clustered into a questionnaire survey and case study. Selected road contractors were evaluated on safety performance using the adapted evaluation tool. The research was conducted in the Greater Accra region of Ghana. The population comprised of all categories of road construction companies and a sample size of 64 road construction companies was selected. The evaluation results indicate that the road construction sector on the average scored forty one percent (41%) for safety performance as measured on the various sites. It was concluded that the most important group factors affecting the safety performance of road contractors were found to be 1) Provision of safety and welfare facilities, 2) Safety Responsibility of management and individuals, 3) Safety Programs and Work Practices, 4) Incident Reporting and Investigation and 5) Management Commitment. It was recommended that since the level of safety performance by road construction companies in Ghana is low there is therefore the need to improve safety performance in the road construction industry. The laws on safety are too scattered in a lot of documents iv hence Government and all regulatory bodies should come out with a well compiled and concise document, regulations and laws on Safety practices for the road construction industry to regulate the activities of the industry players

Source: KNUST
Safety performance of road contractors in Ghana

Occupational safety practice is of utmost importance in the construction industry because the industry is widely regarded as an accident prone one. In many developed countries, there are statutory instruments and legislative frameworks that govern construction operations on site. In the year 2000, the Labour Department reported that the construction industry in Ghana accounted for the highest rate of occupational deaths in comparison to other industrial sectors. There are a lot of researches on occupational health and safety but attention is not drawn to the performance of the road construction industry in terms of safety practices in Ghana. The overall purpose of this study was to empirically evaluate the safety performance of road construction companies in Ghana. In order to collect relevant data for the study, the entire work was clustered into a questionnaire survey and case study. Selected road contractors were evaluated on safety performance using the adapted evaluation tool. The research was conducted in the Greater Accra region of Ghana. The population comprised of all categories of road construction companies and a sample size of 64 road construction companies was selected. The evaluation results indicate that the road construction sector on the average scored forty one percent (41%) for safety performance as measured on the various sites. It was concluded that the most important group factors affecting the safety performance of road contractors were found to be 1) Provision of safety and welfare facilities, 2) Safety Responsibility of management and individuals, 3) Safety Programs and Work Practices, 4) Incident Reporting and Investigation and 5) Management Commitment. It was recommended that since the level of safety performance by road construction companies in Ghana is low there is therefore the need to improve safety performance in the road construction industry. The laws on safety are too scattered in a lot of documents iv hence Government and all regulatory bodies should come out with a well compiled and concise document, regulations and laws on Safety practices for the road construction industry to regulate the activities of the industry players.

Source: KNUST
Safety performance of building contractors in Ghana

The construction industry is considered one of the most hazardous industries not only in developing countries like Ghana but also throughout the world due to its unique nature. For example Kumasi alone recorded 124 construction accident deaths from 1999 t o 2014. The hazards for this industry make it very essential to pay more attention to construction safety and to impr ove the safety performance of building contractors. However, safety is not a luxury but a necessity, and may be considered an important function to be u sed against unnecessary loss. Very little research has been done in this field in Ghana. The aim was to empirically conduct an in-depth study into the safety performance of Building Contractors in Ghana. The objectives of this research are t o identify factors that significantly influence the safety performance of building contractors in Ghana, to identify and adapt a standardised tool for evaluating the safety performance of building contractors and to evaluate the safet y performance using the identified standardised tool. Seventy –five sub factors were identified and grouped into ten main factors. In this study, only K1D1 building contractors in Accra metropolis were considered. A field survey was conducted through a questionnaire for forty-six building contractors in Accra metropolis. The collected data was analysed to presents statistical measures by using SPSS software. Ranking of the factors were done using the mean score and standard deviation values. It was concluded that the main factors influencing safety performance of building contractors in Accra metropolis are; organizational safety awareness & commitment, development of safety policy, financial motivation to application of safety, productivity bonus payment and relation between worker and management on site. Three out of the selected companies were used for the iii case study. The results of the case study shows that; relationship between worker and management on site should be cordial, government must make it compulsory for professional workers to join a professional body, productivity bonus for their workers and plans to allocate specific budgets for safety records and providing technical guidance in job performance for their workers need to be improved, the building contractors must implement a system for safety incentive for the workers, company management to conduct clear safety policy and periodically random safety inspections for technical works and the concerned government authorities to hire qualified, competent and certified engineers to conduct regular site inspections.

Source: KNUST
Safety management practices in the construction of road works in the public sector-a case study of the Department of Urban Roads

The road infrastructure contributes to Ghana’s pursuit of economic advancement, nonetheless despite its importance to the national growth the industry is often plagued with high accidents rates on construction sites thus being considered risky for clients, contractors and workers alike and hence the need for effective safety management practices. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety management practices that the department of urban roads adopts in the execution of road works in a quest to stimulate the practices that are related to safety performances in road infrastructure endeavours. A survey questionnaire was administered to a sample size of 45 professionals of the department and contractors or contractor’s representative working with the department or have worked with the department in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana were involved in the research study by way of administration of survey questionnaires. A response rate of 82% of the sampling frame was obtained. The findings of the study showed that, the most employed safety management practice was the provision of adequate welfare facilities on site. The findings of the evaluation survey revealed an evaluated score of forty seven percent (47%) of safety management practice was obtained against standard safety management practice. It is therefore recommended and concluded that the department must give adequate safety training and education, induction training to contractors and or construction employees before they resume construction works and ensure that standard safety management practices are adhered to.

Source: KNUST