Safety

Popular internet companies have a tendency to devote  attention to their , lavishing the most attention on their software engineers. It’s their code that makes it all possible, right? However, internet meal kit giant Blue Apron is getting a harsh lesson in the importance of taking care of all its employees. BuzzFeed has  that Blue Apron’s Richmond, California fulfillment center has had numerous crime and safety incidents, including employee violence and OSHA violations. There have been instances of staff brandishing knives, for example, and workers suffering accidents using equipment they’re not certified to use.

There have also been complaints about excessive hours (thankfully with overtime), a lack of stringent hiring practices and high stress levels, all of which are the product of Blue Apron’s business model. It has to regularly ship meals sourced from a wide array of locations, with both maximum convenience (you can change your order a week before delivery) and extremely low waste levels. Combine that with rapidly growing demand and there’s frequently zero tolerance for error, whether it’s inventory levels or shipment rates. High employee turnover has reportedly been common, and the company says it had problems with temp agencies recruiting workers with criminal records and other sub-standard behavior.

For its part, Blue Apron tells BuzzFeed that it has “learned from the operational challenges” of earlier times, and is “always working to improve” its environment. And there’s evidence to support this. The company has reduced the volume of police visits, hired a safety manager and purposefully slowed its growth. The problem is that Blue Apron didn’t fully grasp the importance of these issues early on — like many tech startups, it was primarily focused on keeping up with its ever-larger customer base. The investigation is a reminder that internet firms have to think about every aspect of their company when they grow, not just their code or subscriber counts.

Abstract

Deterministic and Probabilistic safety assessments are both important aspects of the ‘Defense in depth’ strategy that is globally adopted today. Advancements in computational capacities, along with development of superior algorithms and code development for probabilistic safety assessments have significantly improved our risk assessment, preparedness, and event response. Innovative approaches such as 2 Phase Monte Carlo simulations and the use of second order probabilities and nested iterations produce better mixed aleatory and epistemic uncertainty quantifications.

Introduction

Radioactive materials are in wide use. The applications for radioactive material are growing, especially in scientific domains such as medical diagnosis and treatment, industrial research, and power generation. However, safety continues to be a major concern due to the scale of damage that could be caused by radioactive contamination or an uncontrolled nuclear reaction. The Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) continuously strives to update guidelines pertaining to the safety regulations of nuclear installations and their operations. Though ‘Defense in depth’ has been the main strategy adopted by all nuclear countries over the last couple of decades, there has been considerable trend in the inclusion of ‘Probabilistic Safety Analysis’ (PSA) as part of the regulatory requirements in nuclear plants (NEA 2007).

Today, in most countries, deterministic designs and probabilistic assessments have become key components in achieving compliance with international nuclear safety regulations. With the phenomenal growth in modern computational capabilities, the PSA has also evolved significantly and is providing nuclear scientists better evolutional tools and capabilities for risk metrics. With PSA being a part of the periodic safety reviews it is useful in identifying design and operational improvements that could translate to lowered risks. Decoupling of uncertainty and containment of damage are important safety goals in nuclear installations.

This paper will focus on deterministic and probabilistic safety analysis and will discuss the role played by these techniques in better risk assessment disaster prevention and better preparedness, event response, and damage control in the event of an incident that is beyond the design basis safety. In particular events such as ‘Station blackout (SBO), ‘Hydraulic study, Flood modeling and Correlation hazards would be discussed using examples.

The Deterministic Approach

Deterministic safety analysis includes the ‘defense in depth’ and ‘Leak tight barriers’ approach that ensure successive stages of preventive measures to limit the damage due to possible equipment failures and human errors. Deterministic safety analysis provides for expected operational deviations, ‘Design Basis Accidents’ (DBAs), and those that are ‘Beyond Design Basis Accidents’ (BDBAs) (IAEA 2009). Over the years, the improvements in computational capacities have improved deterministic safety analysis from purely conservative estimates of anticipated operational deviations towards more realistic modeling of complicated nuclear processes and thermal hydraulic events. For instance, ‘Two phase flow’ models that are currently gaining popularity are beginning to provide a more accurate modeling of thermal hydraulic events in the water piping systems connected to the nuclear reactors. This allows nuclear scientists to achieve a more realistic uncertainty evaluation. With the best estimate approach, it is currently possible to obtain more accurate simulations of operational occurrences – for instance such an approach would be highly effective in the evaluation of ‘Loss of coolant accidents’ (IAEA 2009). Performing a best estimate analysis involves the use of best estimate codes with realistic data along with an evaluation of uncertainties pertaining to both the models used and the data input. This approach contributes in identifying the safety parameters that are most relevant to the plant functioning.

Deterministic safety analysis, also known as ‘accident analysis’ is one of the important tools in assessing and fixing problems. Periodic analysis is essential to ensure the safety of the nuclear systems. It is possible that design based safety may sometimes be overridden during the operational stages of the reactor. One of the well known examples of how design based safety was made invalid was the Fermi-1 reactor incident of 1966. In this case, an unexpected and inexplicable sub-assembly fuel blockage scenario resulted in fuel melting and triggering of radiation alarms, which was contained within the reactor. Luckily the control systems that were in place worked perfectly to limit any further damage. Incident analysis later revealed that Design Basis Safety was over ridden by a late stage addition of 6 Zircaloy plates that were used to direct NA coolant flow. It turned out that one of these Zircaloy plates got detached from the section liners and obstructed the fuel assemblies. Since these plates were not in the original design basis, they escaped quality control pertaining to the design. However, from the point of deterministic safety analysis, this incident provided valued input to design specifications, with future fuel assemblies incorporating multiple fuel inlets to avoid possible complete blockage and fuel starvation as was the case in Fermi-1 (Ragheb 2010).

Probabilistic Safety Analysis

The Probabilistic Safety Assessments (PSA) also referred to as the ‘Probabilistic Risk Assessment’ (PRA), is currently part of the regulatory safety assessment of nuclear plants in most countries. The PSA provides plant mangers with a more comprehensive risk assessment and better interpretation of operational events. The PSA enables plant operators achieve broader risk perception and better prioritization of these risks based on their probabilistic values. It provides for better sensitivity testing and provision of a broader range of counter measures to these probabilistic events. In a nut shell, the PSA enables plant managers to operate with better knowledge and anticipation by providing a ‘risk informed- integrated decision making process’ (NEA, 2007).

PSA results could be used as a complement to deterministic analysis to improve the overall safety of the nuclear plant. One of the earliest applications of probabilistic models that was used in the UK was in the design of ‘Advanced Gas-Cooled reactors.’ The Hartlepool and Heysham 1 reactors were among the first to incorporate probabilistic analysis alongside deterministic safety evaluation in the UK. Today, the PSA is mandatory in the UK for all nuclear plants and a PSA review is conducted periodically for all plants to make sure that plant designs are in conformance with the safety standards that ensure the risk to staff and public are ‘as low as reasonably practicable’ (ALARP) (NEA 2007).

The inadequacy of the current regulations with regards to safety review and in particular the PSAs was bought to the fore by the Fukushima disaster. The Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan is a well known case in point of the failure of a proper PSA assessment of external correlated hazards. This type of PSA assessment is done by applying statistical correlation to the related data pertaining to the site’s external conditions. The extensive incident report of the Fukushima disaster concluded that the current regulatory requirements in many aspects, including flooding studies and flood modeling simulations and station blackout requirements, need to be reviewed and improved. In the Fukushima case, the prolonged station blackout, instrumentation failure, and the consequent core meltdown provided many useful conclusions. In particular, the boiling water reactors at the site suffered from design failures. Moreover, during a power outage, the operators could not vent out the hydrogen gas accumulation which eventually caused the explosions. Therefore, the probability of hydrogen accumulation and explosion during a station blackout event assumes greater significance for future PSA studies. Furthermore, the Fukushima incident also highlight that the interactions between multiple units were left out of the PSA purview. Future PSA assessments should also consider several correlated hazards such as ‘mechanical overload’, ‘submergence’, ‘powerful winds’, ‘seismic hazard’ and the potential combined effect of these (Lyubarskiy et.al 2012).

Level 1 PSA (Monte Carlo simulations)

Both deterministic and probabilistic analyses are based on our current knowledge of the behavior of processes and their parameters under normal conditions. However, this introduces epistemic uncertainty. The following figures illustrate these uncertainties.

Fig: Curves showing Continuous epistemic distribution (Rao et.al, 2008)

The standard practice for the calculation of epistemic uncertainties is the use of Monte Carlo Simulations. Also, to identify aleatory uncertainties, several models such as ‘Reliability Block Diagram’(RBD), ‘Fault Tree Analysis’ (FTA), and ‘Event tree analysis’ are used. The problem with using FTA to simulate reliability and availability of engineering systems is that it ignores variables pertaining to ‘time to repair/failure’ resulting in aleatory uncertainties. To overcome these defects and to reduce the uncertainty component in the risk assessment, some improvements are suggested. One of them is the use of 2 point Monte Carlo Simulations that sample both epistemic and aleatory variables (Rao et.al, 2008). A better approximation of uncertainties is possible by separating the aleatory uncertainties from the epistemic uncertainties. The following figure illustrates a 2 phase Monte Carlo simulation with the epistemic and the aleatory variables (Rao et.al, 2008).

A model that provides better uncertainty quantification for events that involve both aleatory and epistemic uncertainties is to perform second order probability analysis. This involves individual treatment of both aleatory and epistemic variables followed by nested iterations (Eldred 2009).

Level 2 PSA (ASTEC)

One of the important aspects of defense- in depth strategy is to consider the possibility of ‘Severe Accidents’ (SA). These accidents are outside the design basis accidents and usually have a powerful impact on the environment. Analyzing these SAs necessitates comprehensive knowledge of critical processes, such as the ‘containment system,’ ‘core melting,’ ‘core concrete interaction,’ ‘fuel flow mechanics,’ etc. Very often the results of the analysis would be affected by many factors such as, computer code related uncertainties, data uncertainties and plant-based uncertainties, and last but not the least is the user expertise.

One of the well known simulation codes that is also approved by the ARPNET is the ASTEC. Primarily used for level 2 PSA, the ASTEC provides a comprehensive simulation of the complete phenomenology of nuclear accidents. This provides researchers with detailed stage specific simulations in any part of the reactor. Several models including the Core degradation model and fuel and aerosol hydraulics model that are part of the ASTEC PSA code provide for a through investigation of the incident (IRSN 2012). The following figure illustrates this (IRSN, 2012).

The simulations can also illustrate core meltdown and corium formation, hydraulics of aerosols, etc (IRSN, 2012).

While the ASTEC code is widely recognized and approved as an industry standard for PSA simulations, there are still problems that are reactor specific. For instance, the SOPHAEROS simulation (an ASTEC module) that is used to understand the transfer of fission products inside the reactor produces deviations in CANDU type reactors. This is ascribed to the differences in model geometry as used in SOPHAEROS compared with CANDU reactors. The following graph illustrates the differences in deposits of Cs, Sr and I with respect to the feeder radius (APOSTOL et.al, 2011).

The following table illustrates the differences in results obtained using Taylor expansion (M1) and the direct SOPHAEROS code based calculation (APOSTOL et.al 2011).

This difference is due to the use of average feeder dimensions in the SOPHAEROS code. This aberration could be corrected by creating a structure with Md diameters and Ml lengths (Apostol 2011).

Fault Tree Analysis

Fault tree analysis is the simple logical method to identify the relationship between the various component parts and how it affects the overall functioning of a system. Fault tree analysis is important tool for the probabilistic models used in the study of nuclear plant safety. The following illustration shows a fault tree

Fig: Fault Tree: Injection Failure (Manely, 2003)

Though fault trees are very effective in probabilistic risk assessment, they may become difficult for human analysis purpose, particularly, if the fault trees are large and there are so many logical levels between the ‘Top event’ and the lower initiating events (Woody 2011).

Conclusion

Nuclear power is one of the primary energy sources for many countries. The fast depleting carbon-based energy sources and their costly global warming foot prints have increased the shift towards Nuclear energy. However, issues about safety of design and operations of nuclear plants causes significant concerns among the public. Particularly, the history of nuclear accidents such as the ‘Three Mile Island’, ‘Chernobyl disaster’ and the more recent Fukushima incident have prompted for more stringent regulatory requirements and safety testing procedures.

The Fermie-1 incident clearly indicates how ‘design based safety’ scrutiny could be inadvertently circumvented resulting in serious problems. Deterministic and Probabilistic safety assessments are both important aspects of the ‘Defense in depth’ strategy that is globally adopted today. Advancements in computational capacities, along with development of superior algorithms and code development for probabilistic safety assessments have significantly improved our risk assessment, preparedness and event response. Fault trees and event tree analysis and the use of state of the art software simulations (ASTEC) provide better security review and valid input for future plant designs or alterations to current plant designs. Innovative approaches, such as 2 Phase Monte Carlo simulations, and newer methods, such as applying second order probabilities and nested iterations, produce better mixed aleatory and epistemic uncertainty quantifications. The increasing complexity of current model in itself contributes to model uncertainty, as was discussed in the case of the SOPHAEROS module. However, by applying innovative solutions (Taylor expansion, in this case) these inadequacies between models could be resolved.

Bibliography

Dan Manely, (2003), Nuclear Safety and Reliability, viewed Nov 13th 2012,

IAEA, (2009), Deterministic Safety Analysis for Nuclear Power Plants, Safety Guide.

K. Durga Rao, H.S. Kushwahaa, A.K. Vermab & A. Srividya (2008), Quantification of epistemic and aleatory uncertainties in level-1 probabilistic safety assessment studies, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai.

Lyubarskiy, A, Kuzmina I, El-Shanawany M, (2012). Potential Areas for Enhancement of the PSA Methodology based on Lessons Learned from the Fukushima Accident, IAEA.

M Ragheb PhD, (2010), The Fermi-1 Fuel meltdown incident, viewed Nov 12th 2012, https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/mragheb/www/NPRE%20457%20CSE%20462%20Safety%20Analysis%20of%20Nuclear%20Reactor%20Systems/

Michael S. Eldred, Laura P. Swiler, (2009), Efficient Algorithms for Mixed Aleatory-Epistemic Uncertainty Quantification with Application to Radiation-Hardened Electronics Part I: Algorithms and Benchmark Results, Sandia Report.

NEA, 2007, Use and development of probabilistic safety assessment, Published by OECD, viewed Nov 13th 2012, < www.oecd-nea.org/nsd/docs/2007/csni-r2007-12.pdf>

IRSN, (2012), Enhancing Nuclear Safety: The AZTEC software package, viewed Nov13th 2012,

Minodora APOSTOL, Aureliu LECA, Marin CONSTANTIN & Ilie PRISECARU (2011), Dealing with uncertainties in Nuclear Safety Analysis (Part 11), U.P.B. Sci. Bull., Series C, Vol. 73, Iss. 4.

Woody Epstein, (2011), What’s wrong with Fault tree linking approach for complex PRA modelsviewed Nov 13th 2012, < woody.com/papers/whats-wrong-with-the-fault-tree/>

Carry out a risk assessment In a health and social care setting using the Information you have planned with your class put together a risk assessment on the findings of the residential home. MM- Assess the hazards identified in the health or social care setting Del- Make recommendations in relation to identify hazards to minimize the risks to the service user group Type of Hazard Risk caused Probability of hazard Severity of hazard Risk Factor How can the risk be reduced/prevented?

Water or any liquids of the floor. Service users and staff slipping and tripping on the water, resulting In Injury. 4 24 HIGH When there Is water or any liquids on the floor, stay by the spillage till another member of staff bring the warning wet floor sign. Once the sign has been put over the spillage, clean up the spillage to reduce the risk of someone slipping/tripping over. Fire Service users and staff suffering from getting Injured from burns, or Inhaling high dosages of smoke from the fire. 7 14 MEDIUM Ensure that all fire alarms are working correctly, so they are able to detect a fire quickly. Also ensure that all members of staff and service users known the fire safety procedures so they know the easiest and safest route out of the building to prevent themselves from getting injured. Also ensure that lifts are closed off and out of use, to prevent service users and staff from using them, and causing further Injury.

Incorrect use of medication Service users taking either too much medication or not enough medication or not the erect medication that will result in further injury. 3 Ensure that all medication within the residential home is clearly labeled with the name of the medication, and what the medication is used for to cure. Also ensure that all members of staff within the residential home Is fully trained of what medicines should be used and what they should be used for. Electricity appliances glass to smash, as well as electrical appliances blowing up and setting on fire. 4 8 LOW Ensure that all electrical appliances are tested regularly, to ensure that none of the electrical appliances are broken or faulty which may result in a fire. Food Food can become contaminated which can result in germs being spread and resulting in staff members and service users becoming ill. 2 Ensure that all members of staff wear clean suitable clothing such as gloves, hair tied up and blue plasters on when they have cut themselves as well as washing their hands regularly to prevent germs from being spread and food contamination from occurring.

Our lungs are very important to our lives. We can’t replace them. We can’t grow another lung, if we need one. When you first took your first air in when you were a baby it is very hard to stop breathing. That’s how important it is to wear a respirator. Our lungs need protection in all types of hazardous in the air. To know how to use a respirator and know what kind of respirator for every types of hazard is a very important training to have.

There are many tasks that may require the use of respiratory protection. One of the tasks is Maintenance Operation and it releases dust, mists, fumes, vapors, or gases. Manufacturing Operations is another task that releases materials not controlled that are transferring, mixing, reacting, or blending. Also when there is a turnaround or a cleanup they would have to take apart equipment or assemble equipment that may discharge vapors, gases, or aerosols to your work environment. An escape from or entry is a requiring emergency that has concentration air contaminants.

A respiratory protection program must include procedures and comply with OSHA respiratory protection standard. There is a procedure for choosing the right respirators in the workplace. Every employee that is required to use respirators need to have a medical evaluation and need to do fit testing. Another procedure is the proper use of a respirator and what to know for emergency situation.

Also to maintain the respirators for schedule cleaning, storing, repairing, inspecting, discarding, and disinfecting is a procedure to provide for the employees. This procedure is very important too, we need to know if there is enough sufficient air quality, quantity, and the flow of breathing air for atmosphere-supplying respirators.(Brosseau, Colton, Aldol 2) The possibility that something might happen during routine and emergency situations an employee needs training in the respiratory hazards. Employees need to be trained in proper use of respirators and that’s with putting on and removing the respirator.

The OSHA respiratory protection program has to be identifying the individual with all authority and responsibility in relate to respirators. Administrators need to be qualified by training or experienced in the use of respirators and they can be delegated to a lower supervisor. There are several specific responsibilities that are within the program. The Logistics or Supply are responsible for ordering respiratory protective equipment and parts.

The medical personnel are responsible for medical evaluation and giving the ok to for the individual to use the respirator. The Personnel Office or Human Resources are responsible for maintaining records.(4) The Supervisor and management have the responsibility to put into effect the workplace policies. Safety personnel, industrial hygiene, and technical have responsibility to inspect the worksite location if the there is a possibilities a hazardous condition may occur. And last but not least is the user. They have the responsibility to clean, inspect, maintain it, and properly wearing their respirator.

The purpose for medical monitoring is to ensure that the employees can complete the job safely, that would not cause any physiological problems, and physicaly fit to wear a respirator. An employee needs to perform their job safely with a respirator.

To select the right respiratory protection equipment is the type of hazard that you are involved. If you’re in an environment that the oxygen content is less than 19.5% then you would be using the oxygen monitoring equipment for oxygen deficiency. Air contaminants are materials that are raw materials, final products, waste handling or any other way that releases any contaminants to the air.

So find your good sources in material safety data sheets and industrial hygiene reference books to identify the air contaminants. Physical and chemicals properties are examples of gas, vapor, dust, fume, mist or combinations of air contaminants. For any contaminants are particle size and particle type have an affect of what type of filter or respirator selection. To determine the possible health effects may not only be the concern on protection of the respiratory system.

There is potential for eye irritation that you can use a full facepiece, hood, or helmet that provides safety for your eyes and respiratory protection. Skin irritation is another potential health effect and you can use suits and coveralls to protect skin and respiratory. Worker exposures present in areas in time-weighted average and peak exposures.

It can affect in different ways such as work shifts, climate, ventilation, work experience, work habits, work output, and many others relate to specific jobs or work location.(14) The occupational exposure limits have different ways to determine the exposure guidelines. They are the Permissible Exposure Limit, Threshold Limit Value, and Workplace Environmental Exposure Level to consider the mixtures of air contaminants.(14)

Air-purifying respirators are a chemical cartridge respirator and gas masks. They keep your breathing air from going unstable and containing toxic contaminants. An air-purifying respirator is either non-powered or powered respirator. A non powered is a negative pressure mode so users moves air by respiration into the breathing zone. A powered is a positive pressure mode so the air is moved by battery operated fan into the breathing zone.

Powered air-purifying respirators it works with battery-operated fan so the worker is not reliable on the inhalation to go through the air-purifying element. Before going to the face piece the fan pushes and pulls air through the air-purifying respirators. To remove types of gas or vapor contaminant it goes through a air-purifying elements.

Airline respirators are not for immediately dangerous to life or health (IDLH) condition. Airline respirators are a demand airflow that is not recommended because it does not provide protection. Demand airflow is a negative because it allows pressure inside the mask when you inhale. Continuous flow is a positive pressure because the respiratory inlet is covered all the times. Pressure-demand class is normally a positive pressure and it’s a tight-fitting face piece only.

There are two different combination respirators: combination air-purifying and supplied-air (airline) respirators and combination self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) and supplied-air respirator.(51) The combination of the supplied-air respirator plus air-purifying is used in a situation when it is necessary to disconnect the air hose and exit an emergency with the supplied-air respirator.

Self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) is used when contaminant is an immediately dangerous to life or health (IDLH) or insufficient oxygen. SCBA is a positive pressure to the face piece and provide the user the maximum respiratory protection. The SCBA has two types available for entry, open-circuit systems and closed-circuit systems. When you use the open-circuit it will inhale from the cylinder and the air exit to the atmosphere.

For the closed-circuit will not release the exhale to the atmosphere. The air that is breath out it will return to carbon dioxide scrubber then it will fill with oxygen and it goes back to the face piece and it will allow up to 4 hrs service time.(56) The user will need to do inspections to all the components of the apparatus.

The worker has an effect on performing the task when they are wearing the respirator, even though they have the right respirator protection. Respirators can make the task difficult when it interferes your vision, respiration, eating and drinking, scratching ones face, speaking and hearing, heat loss, and sneezing. When one of these activities interferes it can function poorly while wearing the respirator.(87) Vision is very important to perform any task while wearing a respirator; they need to see fine detail, color detection, and peripheral vision.

Communications also interferes while workers are speaking or listening. Hot and Cold can create problem such as, cold can cause fogging and the rubber can stiffen that it will not give you a good facial seal. Hot conditions can be very discomfort inside the face piece. Also it can create hyperthermia with all the heavy clothes and sweating can cause the exhalation valve sticking. Personal issues such as facial hair, blowing your nose, eating, drinking, rubbing eyes, and scratching ones face are one of the issues that the seal face is broken.

Respirator maintenance is a must. It is part of the respiratory protection program. It is like wearing a malfunctioning or poorly maintained respirator and it’s the same as not wearing a respirator at all. A respirator to be in good working order it needs, sanitary, and clean it would need a cleaning and disinfecting after each use. It is very important to do inspections while you use the respirator and while you clean it. If any defects are found during the inspection then a repair and adjustments can be made. The personnel that does the respirator maintenance must be trained and be aware the restriction.

Know every aspects of a respirator and manage the problem when a respirator is in use. Always have in mind that respirators should never be your first line of defense against exposure to airborne contaminants. Giving you a lot information of how to use a respirator and when or where to use the respirator will help you guide your way to any situations while using a respirator.

Road safety is a major issue affecting the road sector. Road accidents remain a serious impediment to sustainable human development in many of the developing member countries (DMCs) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Road accidents continue to be an important social and economic problem in developing countries like India. Growth in the number of motor vehicles, poor enforcement of traffic safety regulations, poor quality of roads and vehicles, and inadequate public health infrastructures are some of the road safety problems facing in India.The object of this Thesis is to present a status report on the nature of the government policy towards the Activity plans implemented till now and which has to be implemented later for the reduction of road fatalities and for the safe roads, and also giving the guidelines for financing of remedial measures, institutional framework, physical characteristics of the road, traffic control and calming measures, road safety education and enforcement issues.The aim of the Activity plans is to analyze the present situation of and to indicate main problems in individual sector of the Activity implemented by comparing and taking the examples of some of the ASEAN Region who are successed in implementing in the individual sectors.

The effect of the programme to real safety situation is estimated, and further plans could be corrected if it is necessary. Implementation of the goals for the coming years to reduce the number of accidents at maximum extent and give people, the safe and the steady flow of traffic in India.The vision of a tremendous change next 5 to 10 years is based on a big potential for improvement and a joint effort of all involved groups on all levels of traffic safety, centrally coordinated by the National Road Safety Authorities. The Action Plan is deliberately divided into 14 key Sectors of activity in broadly the same way as the individual country road safety action plans. The sectors involve many different disciplines and a very wide range of multi sector activities but all are based on applying scientific, methodical approaches to the problem. At the end the thesis gives the recommendations and conclusion for the safe Roads in India

Trade union activity in America had been associated with the early settlements of America. Guilds or associations of carpenters, cobblers and other tradesmen temporarily appeared along colonial American cities, who also played a considerable role in the independence struggle. Disguised carpenters actively participated and played a crucial role in the Boston Tea Party of 1773. In 1794, the printers became the first to go on strike in New York, demanding shorter working hours and better pay.

The cabinet makers followed in 1796, the carpenters in Philadelphia followed them a year later in 1797 and the cordwainers took to striking in 1799 (SSHC,1996). Most of these unions couldn’t sustain for long, as employers claimed these union to be illegal and planed conspiracies attempting to raise wages beyond those agreed by other workers. Taking to negotiation or strikes became more common in the early 19th century, to improve workers conditions.

By the mid 19th century, a Massachusetts court ruled that the attempts of unions cannot be illegal as long as their objectives were lawful, which was a landmark case for the efforts of the union, as it set the ground for similar hearings for other courts and facilitated growth and development of unions (Chaison, 2006). Several unions were attempting to reduce work hours from 12 to 10 in the 1920s. There was also a strong desire among people to form a federation which would facilitate achieving the aspirations of the working people.

Several local unions developed with increasing perception of the power of employers, by the mid 19th century. In several cities, unions in various trades joined to form city level federations. In 1866, The National Labor Union (NLU) was formed which was a consortium of local unions. The NLU forced the Congress and ultimately succeeded in bringing the eight hour work time for Federal workers. The eight hour work day was achieved after several violent and bloody clashes associated with lengthy strikes.

It became the foundation for the 40 hour-5 day week in the US, although it was not extended to all workers across all industries. It was also not legally mandated though the ‘Fair Labor Standards Act’ (FLSA) of 1938 required a half pay for certain groups of workers who exceed eight hours on a particular day or exceed 40 hours on a given week. This facilitated bringing in laws by certain states which required overtime payments to workers and professions that are not covered by the federal act. The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) was passed by the Congress in July 1935 to provide employees their right to self organization.

Backed by government support under President Roosevelt, making a significant departure from earlier policies, labor organizations like the American federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations undertook massive country wide campaigning. The wages and Hours Act of 1938, sought to implement a minimum wages of 25 cents a hour for industrial workers corresponding to a 40 hour week and child labor was restricted. The Social Security Act of 1935 ensured worker benefits covering old age, death and disabilities.

Unemployment benefits and medical care for the older people were later included. As industrialization caused movement of workers from homes and agriculture to urban places and factories, factory owners increasingly preferred children as they were manageable, less demanding and could be hired for lesser wages. However during the end of the 19th century, there were growing demands to stop child labor (ULIC). By 1900, most states had in place certain stipulations governing child employment. Child labor began declining with increasing labor movements.

The National Child Labor Committee formed in 1904 put up campaigns against child labor and the FLSA finally set federal standards to govern child labor. Before the 19th century, increasing use of technology in every aspect of life, improved productivity and offered benefits. Unfortunately, these developments came at a price; increasing workplace dangers. The methods and machines used were very often dangerous. Suing employers for damages or deaths were difficult. A survey of 1900 showed that only a half of all fatally injured people received any compensation and even those who received it got only a maximum of six months pay.

Mining and railroads were particularly dangerous in terms of work environment (Aldrich, 2001). One of the most earliest successful attempts to improve work safety was when in 1880, rail road workers sought better couplers and brakes for freight cars. In recent times work safety aspects have increased considerably since world war II, led by powerful labor unions. However the higher injury rates of the 1960s had put pressure on the Congress to set the Occupational safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

Before the formation of OSHA in 1970, the corporations and companies themselves decided on the medical and work safety requirements of their workers. Under such circumstances, the use of asbestos, vinyl chloride and other hazardous materials went unchecked leading to a spread of work related diseases and illness (Benjamin, 1995). The unions have also played a considerable role in addressing the effects caused by immigration. Immigration of adult workers immensely affects the geographical distribution, skills and employment opportunities available.

The labor unions have not ignored the effects caused by immigrant labor and have always responded tremendously such that it has affected the formation of public policies. Since the 1980s, the union has made the Congress enact policies or supported its policies to restrict immigration. It is to be noted here that union membership increased when immigration declined. In 2000, the executive council of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) announced a change in its stand with regard to immigration.

The council declared that it intended to support immigration and lenient enforcement of immigration laws. The AFL-CIO emphasized that it was promoting the rights of the immigrants to encourage them to join the unions. The number of immigrants as union members rose 24% from 1. 4 million in 1996 to 1. 8 million in 2003. The levels of native union members fell by 6% during this period from 14. 8 million to 14. 0 million. Correspondingly, the levels of immigrant representation in the unions increased while that of natives fell (Grieco, 2004).

It should also be noted here that unions in the US are considerably behind those in the UK, when it comes to training and development strategies of employees. The unions in the UK have been more concerned on the advancement of career of employees through training and learning. The achievements of British trade unions is a standing example of what it can achieve for its members when it’s focused on training and learning. During the last few years, the British trade unions have adopted training and learning as an important element of their agenda.

The role of unions in establishing ‘learning agreements’ with employers, creating union learning representative (ULR) and several union learning programs are seen as success stories associated with unions. The success of trade union backed workplace learning in the UK is evident from the associated facts and figures. As of December 2006, the unions have trained over 13,000 ULRs. More than 3000 workplaces have been covered with over 450 union learning projects, while over 67,000 learners benefit from these courses each year.

There have also been many cases where unions have been in partnership with employers to develop learning and skills acquirement Such programs are very valuable to the employees and sometimes be a life changing experience for many. It helps them to advance their career, while also encouraging them to become more active in the union. Despite this, the unions in the US have come a long way and have catered to the growing needs of the workforce in every aspect of life. Be it social security, health, risks, old age or their dependents; the unions have ensured that fair and appropriate deals reach its members.

At this time, when unions have considerable influence in the establishment of government policies and acts, both at the state and federal levels, one should not forget its humble beginnings and the people who had made this possible today. The workers who had been sacked, thrown out and even imprisoned for raising questions on the common welfare of the workers and those workers who decided to stand up against the might of their owners who had enormous political and money power, should not be forgotten.

The unions of today and the all-round support they receive today is in stark contrast to the concerns and condemnation, it had raised earlier.

REFERENCES

Social Studies Help Center (1996). The labor union movement in America [Electronic Version]. Downloaded Electronically on June 4th from http://www. socialstudieshelp. com/Eco_Unionization. htm Chaison G. N. , (2006) Unions in America. Sage Publishers. U. S Benjamin P. E. , (1996) Lives in the balance-Corporate vs. Pubic research, People’s World Weekly, 16 Sept.

University of Iowa Labor Center. Child Labor in US History. [Electronic Version]. Downloaded Electronically on June 4th from http://www. continuetolearn. uiowa. edu/laborctr/child_labor/about/us_history. html Aldrich M. , (2001) History of Workplace Safety in the United States, 1880-1970. EH. Net Encyclopedia, edited by Robert Whaples. http://eh. net/encyclopedia/article/aldrich. safety. workplace. us Grieco E (2004) Immigrant Union Members- Numbers and Trends http://www. migrationpolicy. org/pubs/7_Immigrant_Union_Membership. pdf

Both of company’s are private sector businesses. This means that it is made of businesses that are owned by individuals or groups of individuals. It is possible for businesses in the private sector to be owned by other bu Sony is well known as one of the very best known business’s in the world. They sell electronic goods like C. D Players ,Televisions ,computers and game consloes. They are a secoundary sector business because they normally sell there products to franchiser’s. secoundary sector means businesses involved in manufacturing and construction, it often use’s products from the primary sector.

Primary sector is natural resources. For example wool, card etc. Foot locker are a very big business in america because they are the best sports retailer there. They sell sport clothes and trainers. Therea franchise as they sell other peoples goods. They are a tertiary sector business. Tertiary business is also called a service sector. It includes banking, insurance and finance. The location of footlocker is on Iford high road. The Sony shop is in the ilford exchange tower on the secound floor. They are both is to locate and are located in a very popular destination for torist and locals.

Thousands and thousands of people go to ilford exchange every week, so that’s a good idea how popular the location is for the businesses in that area. Comparison There both have comparisons and they are that they want to satisfy there customers. Mostly everything Sony make they have a grantee on it and anything which is’nt up to your standard my be refunded by footlocker. Aims and Objectives Sony’s aims are to be the best electronic goods producers in the whole world and it wants more of the customers to buy there products .

Its main aim is to sell most of it goods through the Internet. The diagram below show’s most of sony’s aims. It also has two main aims that are increase its share of the U. K. Compare Sony’s aims and Footlockers aims are slightly similar like maximize it sales and footlocker is the same maximize it sales by making it cheaper in prices than its competitors. Footlocker’s objectives and the Sony’s are so different because they want to produce new goods as it is getting compition with cheaper brands and Footlocker want to increase there sales in the U. K. Functional Areas

Introduction: Functions are used to keep a company keep their records and improve their service by asking their customers their wants and how it could be improved. There are seven function area’s there area’s are;

1. Customer Service – provides information advice and after-sales service and deals with customer complaints.
2. Operations – is responsible for producing goods and services by making the best of use of resources.
3. Finance – is responsible for checking the money going out and in of a business.
4. Research & Development -concerned with technological and scientific.
5. Human Resources – relates to the people who work for the organization.
6. Marketing & Sales – responsible for making sure customers that customer know about the business.
7. Administration & IT support – all businesses receive information daily, in many different ways.

For one of the businesses I have to choose any three functional areas and describe how they are used in that company. So I choose Sony as the business and the three functional areas are Finance, Human resources and Customer Service Finance Sony’s finance department manages all the money for the business.

This department record’s the financial transaction of a business and helps managers to plan for the future. Tesco is a large company therefore its financial department is quite large. Below are some of the activities of its financial department:

• It prepares the account for the business.
• Record all the financial matters all the business
• Pays wages and the salaries.
• Obtaining capital and resources.

It prepares the account for the business – this means that Sony has to prepare an account, which summarizes their financial affairs, and legally have to publish their detailed accounts.

The most important part of this account is that:

• The balance sheet – which states the both what a business owns and its debts.
• The profit and loss account – which records all the profit and losses made the business within a year

2) Record all the financial matters all the business

• The record of money spent by Sony on something for the sale of goods or services. It is important that a business keeps these records in order to:
• Help manager to keep the right decision
• Calculate whether the business is profitable

3) Pays wages and the salaries – paying wages also involves the finance department is ways like:

• Sony has to deduct money from the employees for the income tax and the national insurance.
• The pension scheme for the employees
• The accurate record of wages

4) Obtaining capital and resources

• This is when may need some loan or retain profits.

Other Finance Functions

The finance department also does jobs of other department in the business such as: – Places orders and pays the bills on the behalf of the other department within that business.

• Advises other areas of the business as to the amount of money available to them.
• Helps senior managers to make major decisions.

Human Resources

Sony says it is the best electronic producers company therefore it has recruited the best employees and to make sure that they work effectively and safely so that the business can achieve its objectives. There are many ways in which Sony is involved with human resource, which are:

• Working conditions
• Recruitment, Retention and Dismissal.
• Training developing and promoting
• Health and safety
• Trade unions

Working conditions: are set when the employees are interviewed. Sony’s working condition relates to how the employees get paid when and which day they would get paid, sick pays, with the holiday entitlement plus if any employee wants to leave they need to tell them before hand so the company can get a recover. The working conditions also relate to:

• Training needs
• Hours of work
• The warmth and cleanliness of the workplace

Recruitment, Retention and Dismissal

Sony likes to recruit more of its staff that is experienced from other businesses such as their competitors.

Sony looks why an employee leave’s it work and for what reason if it is their fault they try and improve it so other people may not leave. Dismissing staff in Sony is rare cause everyone knows that if they do a mistake they will not be able to work and especially when they are at a good pay. Training developing and promoting: this is another main function of human resource that uses a number of techniques to provide workers with the skills needed:

• Training workers at the workplace or the training centers.
• Promoting employees to more senior positions
• Plan the jobs for the employees so they can enjoy the new experience and develop new skills.

Health and safety: Sony has a Small health and safety committee because it does not produce food but they still have to secure their working environment to be safe enough. With better and secure environment the employees will work more effectively ” Sony has given a brief explanation on their health and safety”, which is Health and safety standards are very important if they want there workers to work hard; the company is committed to providing a good products and working environment for customers, staff and contractors.

The company has established policies, procedures and training to identify and minimize the risks inherent in a retail and distribution business. The safety of our products carries the highest responsibility and priority. We have established, over many years, a comprehensive due diligence process supported by technical and product development standards and procedures. This assurance covers staff training, providing guidance and auditing suppliers to ensure they supply quality products for the Sony brand. We have conducted a comprehensive risk analysis of products, suppliers and factories upon which our audit programmer is based.

Auditing is carried out on both a routine and unannounced basis. Supply chain risks can include, for example, a failure of standards relating to product safety, quality, and worker welfare. We review regularly our technical, due diligence and crisis management procedures in the light of the latest scientific research and expert opinion, to ensure that these risks are managed effectively. We use in-house experts as well as external advisors to look for and analyze emerging issues so that appropriate action can be taken. Trade unions: the human recourse department discusses and agrees pay and the working conditions with the trade unions. Read also PlayStation 4 SWOT Analysis

Trade unions usually help the employees to get their right amount of pay and are also involved with the health and safety issues and improvements in the business.

Customer Service

What does customer service do?

Provides information advice and after-sales service and deals with customer complaints. Customer service is the main part of Sony’s business because it provides them complaints which they like to improve on so that’s why each and every Sony has a customer service area for which their customers can go and give their complaint. Once a complaint is made Sony try’s to improve that complaint even if it is small or big.

Sony is said to be the Worlds largest electronical goods retailer, which has acknowledged that one way it competes with the other electronical goods retailer is by offering higher standards of customer service. Customer service is involved in many other duties that are:

• Offering fair prices, good quality products with reliable delivery – Delivering goods is another main part of Sony’s customer service because the customer service should know what time a delivery should be done cause if it is late customers will phone the customer service and if they do not know about the delivery and why it is late they may loose customers like that.
• Responding to enquiries about the business or its products
• As Tesco now have started with non-food items it has now offered after-sales service such as repair or replacement of faulty products or parts What kinds of staff are employed for customer service in Sony? In the customer service department the staff needs to have high levels of training to deal with a wide range of customer enquiries, the ability to communicate easily and provide the customers with advice and information plus an excellent interpersonal skill with the abilities to calm down a very upset customer and also keep them satisfied.