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COVID-19 pandemic has ushered in a new norm of operation and has further presented new health and safety challenges in all sectors, including the construction sector. Consequently, several guidelines have been developed and instituted by various countries to prevent the spread of the disease among the citizenry. This paper aims to explore the COVID-19 guidelines incorporated in the health and safety management policies of construction firms in South Africa.

A qualitative approach was adopted for the study. Data was collected from construction companies by means of an open-ended questionnaire. The open-ended questionnaire was distributed by using the purposive sampling technique. The collected data was analysed with thematic content analysis.

The findings show that most construction companies have incorporated aspects of COVID-19 guidelines into the site health and safety policies, whereas the majority of the companies had incorporated guidelines such as site access, handling of COVID-19 cases, induction, screening and social distancing; only a few had incorporated guidelines such as compliance, sanitisation, sick leave, wearing of personal protective equipment, audit and risk assessment, lunchtime rules and grouping of workers into the health and safety policies on site.

Data was collected from higher grade firms; therefore, the research findings may not be applied to smaller construction firms. A study that focuses on lower grades is recommended.

Construction companies could use the recommendations provided to improve upon the policies developed/adopted to curb the spread of CVID-19 on-site.

Research on COVID-19 construction site health and safety measures are still being developed. Thus, this study contributes to advancing the body of knowledge in this evolving field.

The purpose of this paper is to explore and compare the asset management policies and practices of six Australian states – New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania – to improve understanding of the policy context to best shape policy focus and guidelines. Australian state-wide asset management policies and guidelines are an emergent policy domain, generating a substantial body of knowledge. However, these documents are spread across the layers of government and are therefore largely fragmented and lack coherency.

The comparative study is based on the thematic mapping technique using the Leximancer software.

Asset management policies and guidelines of New South Wales and Victoria have more interconnected themes as compared to other states in Australia. Moreover, based on the findings, New South Wales has covered most of the key concepts in relation to asset management; the remaining five states are yet to develop a comprehensive and integrated approach to asset management policies and guidelines.

This review and its findings have provided a number of directions on which government policies can now be better constructed and assessed. In doing so, the paper contributes to a coherent way forward to satisfy national emergent and ongoing asset management challenges. This paper outlines a rigorous analytical methodology to inform specific policy changes.

This paper provides a basis for further research focused on analyzing the context and processes of asset management guidelines and policies.

Library association policies and guidelines are important to study because they reflect consensus values of the profession. As such, they can shape the association, itself, and set the tone for the values of its individual members in their professional practice. From the titles alone, these documents proclaim themselves to be guides for the development of individual library policy. Additionally, as library and information science (LIS) graduate education programs are accredited by national associations, LIS schools pay attention to association policies and guidelines to help shape professional and continuing education. In these ways, they have a role in shaping professional ideology around a topic. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The services to persons with disabilities policies from three national-level LIS organizations were analyzed through a thematic analysis.

The guidelines speak to a shared understanding of disability and accessibility around the themes of library staff, library policies and library resources and services. While not surprising, additional themes around disability context and legislation show a shared understanding of accessibility that is much broader than what the legislation requires.

An analysis of guidelines on services to persons with disabilities from the American Library Association (ALA), Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) and Canadian Federation of Library Associations (CFLA) is of interest because of the ways these organizations intersect. The ALA and ALIA have reciprocal agreements so that students in LIS education programs are recognized as equivalents. Second, the ALA accredits library education programs in Canada. Given these intersecting relationships, the guidelines-shared notions of accessibility become of high interest.

This paper aims to present concrete and verified guidelines for enhancing the usability and security of software that delegates security decisions to lay users and captures these user decisions as a security policy.

This work is an exploratory study. The authors hypothesised that existing tools for runtime set‐up of security policies are not sufficient. As this proved true, as shown in earlier work, they apply usability engineering with user studies to advance the state‐of‐the‐art.

Little effort has been spent on how security policies can be set up by the lay users for whom they are intended. This work identifies what users want and need for a successful runtime set‐up of security policies.

Concrete and verified guidelines are provided for designers who are faced with the task of delegating security decisions to lay users.

The devised guidelines focus specifically on the set‐up of runtime security policies and therefore on the design of alert windows.

The Bureau of Economics in the Federal Trade Commission has a three-part role in the Agency and the strength of its functions changed over time depending on the preferences and ideology of the FTC’s leaders, developments in the field of economics, and the tenor of the times. The over-riding current role is to provide well considered, unbiased economic advice regarding antitrust and consumer protection law enforcement cases to the legal staff and the Commission. The second role, which long ago was primary, is to provide reports on investigations of various industries to the public and public officials. This role was more recently called research or “policy R&D”. A third role is to advocate for competition and markets both domestically and internationally. As a practical matter, the provision of economic advice to the FTC and to the legal staff has required that the economists wear “two hats,” helping the legal staff investigate cases and provide evidence to support law enforcement cases while also providing advice to the legal bureaus and to the Commission on which cases to pursue (thus providing “a second set of eyes” to evaluate cases). There is sometimes a tension in those functions because building a case is not the same as evaluating a case. Economists and the Bureau of Economics have provided such services to the FTC for over 100 years proving that a sub-organization can survive while playing roles that sometimes conflict. Such a life is not, however, always easy or fun.

This article reports the findings of a national survey of the consultation of people with learning difficulties by social services departments in the development of adult protection procedures and guidelines. The survey also considered the consultation of other service users, carers and family, and staff. Despite the rhetoric of user involvement in adult protection literature, low levels of consultation for people with learning difficulties were found.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of social media guidelines (SMGs), as well as their impact on control mutuality, a sub-dimension of the organization–employee relationship (OER). A total of two studies compare guidelines with a focus that is either predominantly incentive or restrictive. In addition, they investigate the moderating effect of guideline writing style and enforcement.

In total, two online experiments were conducted among Belgian employees. Participants read a social media policy manipulated in terms of focus (restrictive vs incentive) and style (conversational vs corporate; Study 1) or enforcement (signature requested vs not requested; Study 2).

Incentive guidelines increase employee branding behavior more than their restrictive counterparts, while also safeguarding employees' perceived control mutuality. However, solid SMGs will not compensate for an organization's bad reputation among employees. The guidelines' style and manner of enforcement did not seem to matter.

Communication executives can use our findings to draft SMGs in a way that increases opportunities (e.g. ambassadorship) and reduces risks (e.g. criticism) associated with employee social media use.

Prior research on SMGs is predominantly descriptive and focused on the organizational perspective. This research paper contributes to both theory and practice by studying the causal impact of these guidelines on employees.

Accountability in personnel records management is to a large extent, dependent on the availability of personnel records, there has been very little recognition of the need to address the management of personnel records as evidence for accountability either in relation to Freedom of Information (FOI) or Open Data. It is in this regard, therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the legal frameworks for personnel records management in support of accountability. The study used a descriptive design which combined both qualitative and quantitative approaches where both qualitative and quantitative information was involved in the study. Founded on the records life cycle and the records continuum, the study aimed to fulfil its main objective: establishing legal frameworks for personnel records management at Garissa County Government (GCG). Purposive sampling was used to select 11 Human Resource Management Officers (HRMO), 11 Personnel Record Management Officers (PRMO) and 11 Personnel Records Management Clerks (PRMC) and 55 staff members who made the total sample of 88 respondents. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics with the help of a Statistical Package for Social Scientists (version 17) was used to perform the analysis of quantitative data and presented through frequency tables, percentages, means and standard deviations. Results indicated that the County Government does not have legal frameworks in personnel records management. Several challenges were identified including lack of personal records management policy, lack of integrity, lose of documents/file and poor communication system. Generally, the study shows that legal frameworks in personnel records management is very important in accountability, therefore, GCG management needs to take measure to improve legal frameworks in personnel records management infrastructure and develop personnel records management policy.

The study was conducted using a descriptive design. This design ensures that data collected are analysed and findings are reported to establish a better understanding of a physical or social phenomenon. The descriptive design combined both qualitative and quantitative approaches where both qualitative and quantitative information was involved in the study. The study was conducted at the County Government of Garissa’s Head Quarters; it targeted staff involved in personnel records management. Garissa town was selected because it is a centre of various activities in County Government of Garissa. The target population comprising HRMO, PRMO, PRMC and staff from different ministries who depended on the personnel records management activities. Purposive sampling was used to select 11 HRMO, 11 PRMO, 11 PRMC and 55 staff members who made the total sample of 88 respondents from the population. Questionnaire method was used to collect data from HRMO, PRMO, PRMC and staff members quickly and give more freedom (in terms of time and flexibility) to the respondents. Interviews were used to obtain more in-depth information from the PRMO, HRMO and PRMC being the individuals’ in-charge of personnel records were to provide information on legal frameworks for personnel records management at GCG.

Lack of a policy signifies a lack of accountability and awareness of the personnel records management standards, meaning that the staffs are not aware of their responsibilities towards the management of the County’s records. This is therefore likely to contribute significantly to poor performance (Mampe and Kalusopa, 2012). This then puts the County in a precarious position regarding personnel records due to lack of guidelines on classing and handling of personnel records. Lack of a policy also shows a lack of commitment in the area, purporting neglect, where responsibilities are not clearly assigned and remain unclear. Weak institutional capacity and the absence of, for example, comprehensive personnel records management policies have been cited as one of the main causes of archival (as well as records management) underdevelopment in Africa (Ngulube and Tafor 2006). From the reactions of the existence of a draft policy, the staff indicated that it covered among other things: a policy statement, scope, definition of terms, applicable legislation and procedures, mail management encompassing both incoming and outgoing mail, filing classification, retention and disposal, as well as a statement of responsibilities. The study revealed that: personnel records management in Kenya operates under the framework and guidance of the Kenya National Archives and Documentation Services – KNADS which is supported by the Public Archives and Documentation Services Act, Cap 19. Besides the Cap 19, of 1965 of the Laws of Kenya, there are also various legislations that support the management of records in Kenya including the Ministry of State for Public Service (MSPS) (DPM) Circular on personnel records reference number DPM. 12/6A Vol. I (71) of 12th March 2008, the Records Management Procedure Manual for the Public Service, May 2010, prepared by the MSPS in consultation with the KNADS to provide guidelines and procedures to be followed in the day to day management of records in the public service. It is meant to be used alongside existing laws and legislation governing records management in the service. The effective utilization of the manual as stated by the Ministry is to contribute towards the government’s quest to achieve good governance and accountability in the Public Service. Adherence to the Manual is also meant to streamline personnel records management practice leading to effectiveness and efficiency in service delivery and the Government Financial Regulations and Procedures, chapter 23, section 4:2–5 give guidelines on the retention period for financial records. The management of personnel records is guided by various legislations and circulars such as Public Archives and Documentation Service Act, (Cap.19, Laws of Kenya) revised 1991, The Employment Act Chapter 226, revised in 1977 and 2007, The Regulation of Wages and Conditions of Employment Act Chapter 229, Income Tax Act Chapter 470 revised 1989, The National Social Security Fund Act Chapter 258 revised 1989, The Service Commission Act Chapter 185 of 1967 and DPM.12/6A VOL. I (71) dated 12th March 2008 on the destruction of personnel records. Compliance to all the above legal frameworks will ensure that personnel records management in support of accountability at GCG is achieved.

The lack of effective personnel records management programme in a county agency was in itself non-conformity to the requirements and guidelines issued by the public services, thus leading to a lot of caution on how much could be revealed regarding the same. The focus of the study was on the assessment of paper-based and electronic personnel records management within the County Government. The assessment excluded other electronic records, such as online databases, with only personnel records being considered.

Nonexistence of personnel records management legal frameworks implies that the responsibilities for cooperate record management to GCG plans and guidelines of managing personnel records were inefficient. As a result of the absence of written personnel records management policy, there was also a lack of guidelines for appraisal, disposition and schedules of records. On legal frameworks for personnel records management at GCG, the findings revealed that there were many policies in GCG but personnel records management policy was missing which is very crucial. Record management policy will also enhance human resource management policy. The missing of the personnel records management policy reduces the accountability to people who deal with records management in general, increases lack of integrity and indicate that there is a presence of irrational decision.

The missing of the personnel records management policy reduce the accountability to people who deal with records management, in general, increases lack of integrity and indicate that there is a presence of irrational decision.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the management of personnel records in support of accountability in devolved governments: A case of GCG.

Social media is increasingly used by institutions of higher education to connect with students, with the goal of establishing a link with students through technology that they are already using at a significant rate. However, guidelines and policies describing the institutions' strategy and expectations for the use of social media are being utilized at a much lower rate than the use of social media itself. This has the potential to reduce the effectiveness of social media by institutions of higher education, and to create a barrier in the use of social media before the benefits can even be fully realized. This chapter explores current research regarding existence of guidelines for the use of social media in higher education, details a number of current issues, which have resulted from the use of social media, and describes general guidelines, which can be used to help institutions avoid the issues that can result from the use of social media. The chapter describes specific sections that should be part of social media guidelines, defines who in the institution will be impacted by the guidelines, and provides examples of effective social media guidelines. Additionally, the chapter describes research that is needed to help administrators and educators understand the issues that can result from the use of social media by an institution and how to prevent issues from occurring through the use of appropriate guidelines, standards, and policies.

The enrolment rates of students with special needs (SwSN) decrease from primary to secondary education and decline steeply in higher education. The incessant impact of stigma and misconceptions about their capability in academic performance acts as a major roadblock for students with mental health conditions (SwMHC) while seeking and pursuing higher education, in addition to the host of other challenges faced by all SwSN. SwMHC are the least represented in higher educational institutions (HEIs) and are seldom considered when it comes to the provision of support and accommodation. Policies across countries aim to make education accessible and inclusive for SwSN, including India. This study aims to appraise the current policies and legislation in terms of the support they provide for SwMHC.

This study is a “document analysis” of all policies, legislation, schemes and guidelines that impact the higher education of SwMHC to recognize the existing provisions that are likely to impact the higher educational outcomes for SwMHC.

The issues of access, accommodation, equity, inclusion, and financial support are appropriately handled by the current policies and legislation. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 serves as a holistic guidebook and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act (RPDA) 2016 provides the legislative framework for realizing education as a ‘right for all.’ The RPDA ensures open gateways of HEIs for all SwSN through reservations and mandating necessary support and accommodation. NEP guides inclusion and equity in higher education. The ‘University Grants Commission’, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Education, is a crucial stakeholder in achieving the vision of supportive policies by formulating requisite guidelines and monitoring their implementation.

The study involved document analysis spanning macro to micro level, i.e. from national policies and legislation to policies and guidelines of autonomous or statutory organizations to institutional-level policies and documents.