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Discusses the application of workforce planning techniques in the context of “target” levels of demand and uses a study of the future supply of orthotists and prosthetists as an example. Describes the derivation of an appropriate model, the quantification of the labour market for the profession, and an analysis of the characteristics of the workforce. Information was gathered through two surveys and from discussions with relevant organizations.

Examines in detail the issue of absence among nurses in the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK. Three main objectives are to: investigate levels and reasons for absence among nurses; assess the abilities of NHS management to monitor and control nurse absence effectively; and examine the impact of nurse absence on organizational costs and care delivery. Draws on data generated from four linked studies: a survey of back‐injured nurses, conducted in 1992; a survey of 4,000 qualified nurse members of the Royal College of Nursing, conducted in March/April 1993; a postal survey of 119 NHS employing units, conducted in May/June 1993; and detailed case studies, conducted with management in ten NHS hospital sites in May/June 1993.

Presents summary results from two surveys which the Institute for Employment Studies conducted in 1994 for the Health Education Authority. The first of these surveys reports national benchmarking data on rates of sickness absence and accidents at work in NHS provider and purchaser organizations. The second survey concerns implementation of the Health at Work (HaW) in the NHS initiative in NHS hospital worksites. Discusses structures and processes of HaW implementation.

Heavy metal music has had a long relationship with environmental and ecological concerns, one that can be traced as far back as Black Sabbath’s ‘Into the Void’ (1971). Academic work has, however, been slow to recognise the entanglements of metal, environment and ecology in either the global or an Australian context. More recently, however, popular music scholars have begun to acknowledge how the sonic anger of black, death and other genres of extreme metal might be an appropriate medium for social and environmental commentary and protest (Lucas, 2015, p. 555). Therefore, according to Wiebe-Taylor (2009), metal’s ‘darker side is not simply about shock tactics and sensory overload…’, because, ‘metal also makes use of its harsh lyrics, sounds and visual imagery to express critical concerns about human behaviour and decision making and anxieties about the future’ (p. 89). Taking an ecocritical approach, this chapter will map and analyse the environmental concerns and ecological anxieties of Australian metal across a range of different bands and metal genres, as they emerge through three ‘dead-end’ discourses-misanthrophism, apocalypticism, Romanticism – which offer little or no hope of survival.

The purpose of this paper is to put forward a conceptual framework which details the policies and practices that can potentially contribute to the effective management of long‐term absences, and hence the return to work and retention of ill and injured workers, and considers how far UK employers currently do have in place management arrangements which accord with those detailed in this framework.

The conceptual framework detailed was developed by reference to secondary literature and the outcomes of a conference of relevant stakeholders. Available research evidence was then utilised to test the validity of this framework and to assess how far employers make use of the types of policies and practices identified in it.

The research evidence reviewed lent a good deal of support to the propositions put forward in the conceptual framework as to the processes and practices that are central to the development of effective workplace rehabilitation programmes, as well as the internal and external factors that potentially influence the adoption and operation of them. It also indicated that there is a good deal of scope for employers to do far more to support the continued employment of ill, injured and disabled workers, particularly in smaller organisations.

More needs to be done to encourage employers to adopt the types of policies and practices detailed in the conceptual framework and careful thought needs to be given to whether this encouragement is best provided by legislative or non‐legal means.

The central issue addressed, namely the management of long‐term absence, is one that has been little explored in the existing human resource literature.