Search results

The public sector utilises approximately 20 per cent of the total floor space in Sweden. Half this space is owned by the municipalities and is used for schools, child care, geriatric care, etc. The cost of properties in municipal budgets is rising at the same time as there is a backlog of maintenance and the utilisation of premises is low. A number of measures aimed at making the management of premises in the public sector more efficient and effective are described. The problems are not only technical and economic in nature but also, above all, organisational and political: how to create the dynamics of and incentives for economising on property resources, and how to choose between the cost of welfare production and the quality of premises?

By comparing the legislative regimes in different states, this paper aims to provide a platform upon which an agenda of “good practice” can be formulated and initiated in relation to the provision of access to the built environment for disabled people.

The paper utilizes a desktop approach to examine the various regimes. Particular focus is placed upon the regimes in the European Union States of the UK, Malta, Ireland and France and these are contrasted with those in the non‐European states of Australia and the USA.

The paper shows how the UK, Malta and possibly Ireland have attempted to take a path of amicable cooperation and negotiation to establish the principle of “reasonable” adjustments to improve access to new and old buildings, whereas France and the USA have tended to adopt a prescriptive course of technical detail and legal compliance to enhance access. The paper also reveals how Australia follows an intermediate route of cooperation and human rights legislation to achieve the same goals.

The paper places new insights into the public domain through the evaluation of the strengths and weakness of each approach.

This paper uniquely recognizes a number of mistakes that have to be avoided in future legislation and makes tangible recommendations on how to make further progress in the quest to make the built environment more accessible to disabled people.

Library provision for children in specially furnished areas of the library began in the United Kingdom in the late 1890s although this early provision was sketchy. Where they did exist, children′s facilities were often provided in a separate children′s room, often resembling a “cut‐down” adult library. The advent of open‐plan libraries provided areas specially designed and furnished for children of all ages. The influence of Scandinavian and North American children′s library design has been evident for some years. A library′s appearance is now recognized as an important factor in marketing services to children. Despite the problems caused by old and unsuitable buildings, library staff often take considerable care to provide a welcoming environment for children. However, children′s work in the 1980s ad 1990s has had to face cuts in expenditure, staffing levels, hours of opening and in some cases compete with new “priority areas” – services to ethnic minorities; housebound services; business or community information. The children′s librarian with a knowledge of children′s reading needs and library design needs would seem to be a dying breed.

This study aims to shed light on the ambiguous effects of smart working (SW) on work meaningfulness. On the one hand, SW enables people to benefit from greater work flexibility, advancing individual control over organizational activities. On the other hand, it may impair interpersonal exchanges at work, disrupting job meaningfulness. Hence, the implications of SW on work meaningfulness are investigated through the mediating role of interpersonal exchanges at work.

The authors investigate both the direct and indirect effects of SW on employees’ perceived meaningfulness at work. Secondary data come from the sixth European Working Conditions Survey. The study encompasses a sample of 30,932 employees. A mediation model based on ordinary least square regressions and bootstrap sampling is designed to obtain evidence of SW’s implications on meaningfulness at work through the mediating role of interpersonal relationships (IR).

The research findings suggest that SW triggers a positive sense of the significance of work. However, it negatively affects IR with peers and supervisors, entailing professional and spatial isolation. Impaired IR twists the positive implications of SW on organizational meaningfulness (OM), curtailing the employees’ sense of significance at work.

SW is a double-edged sword. It contributes to the enrichment of OM, enhancing the individual self-determination to shape the spatial context of work. However, its side effects on interpersonal exchanges generate a drift toward organizational meaninglessness. Tailored management interventions intended to sustain IR at work are needed to fit the design of SW arrangements to the employees’ evolving social needs.

The paper pushes forward what is currently known about the implications of SW on OM, examining them through the mediating role of IR at work.

Knight's Industrial Law Reports goes into a new style and format as Managerial Law This issue of KILR is restyled Managerial Law and it now appears on a continuous updating basis rather than as a monthly routine affair.

Much of public relations scholarship in the last three decades has been dominated by discussions about best practices. Theories developed over the years have often been based on western practices with little focus on emerging economies such as Africa. The growing call for a shift to a new system, especially from a non-western perspective has resulted in scholars examining public relations scholarship and practice in other jurisdictions, particularly in Asia. The onset of globalisation increased the scholarly discussion on public relations theorising, with culture playing a significant role in these discussions. This paper undertakes a review of the various discussions on public relations theorising due to globalisation and discusses its implications for public relations scholarship and practice in Africa.

The paper approaches the issue by examining relevant literature on globalisation and societal changes, public relations theorising, and the African worldview.

The paper concludes by proposing an African public relations framework that reflects the African worldview. The framework proposes that African public relations can be premised on four levels, humanist, relational, communalist, and strategic.

This research is limited in the sense that the proposed framework has not been empirically tested for verification. It offers scholars the opportunity to empirically test it within the African setting.

The framework presents an opportunity for practitioners to review public relations practice within the African context.

The paper's originality is premised on the development of a public relations framework premised on African social values.

The case, briefly reported in the last issue of BFJ, an appeal to a Milk and Dairies Tribunal arising out of a local authority's refusal to grant a licence to a milk distributor because he failed to comply with a requirement that he should provide protective curtains to his milk floats, was a rare and in many ways, an interesting event. The Tribunal in this case was set up under reg. 16(2) (f), Milk (Special Designation) Regulations, 1963, constituted in accordance with Part I, clause 2 (2), Schedule 4 of the Regulations. Part II outlines procedure for such tribunals. The Tribunal is similar to that authorized by S.30, Food and Drugs Act, 1955, which deals with the registration of dairymen, dairy farms and farmers, and the Milk and Dairies (General) Regulations, 1959. Part II, Schedule 2 of the Act provided for reference to a tribunal of appeals against refusal or cancellation of registration by the Ministry, but of producers only. A local authority's power to refuse to register or cancellation contained in Part I, Schedule 2 provided for no such reference and related to instances where “public health is or is likely to be endangered by any act or default” of such a person, who was given the right of appeal against refusal to register, etc., to a magistrates' court. No such limitation exists in respect of the revoking, suspending, refusal to renew a licence under the Milk (Special Designation) Regulations, 1963; an appeal against same lies to the Minister, who must refer the matter to a tribunal, if the person so requests. This occurred in the case under discussion.

To describe and then review the Toronto food inspection to describe that inspection system and to assess the mandated completion rates, compliance rates, impact of food‐handler training and levels of standardization in inspection and enforcement activities.

The study included a review and summary of information relating to compliance inspections as well as analysis of data stored in the Toronto Healthy Environments Information System using descriptive and inferential statistics.

Several efficiencies were identified including a 17 per cent increase in completion rates between 2001 and 2003; increased compliance with regulatory requirements from 78 per cent in 2001 to 88 per cent in 2003; a reduction in infractions known to be associated with food‐borne illness; and greater compliance in food premises with certified food handlers compared with those without.

All public health units in Ontario, Canada, conduct routine inspection of food establishments to determine compliance with the Ontario Food Premises Regulations, but few of them disclose the results.

Disclosure of inspection results offers an incentive to operators to comply with the regulations and provides an opportunity to consumers to make informed purchasing choices. Furthermore, investment in food‐handler training and certification programs have long‐term positive implications for food safety.

The prayer against the Poultry (Hygiene) Regulations which we briefly mentioned in the editorial of our last issue, was lodged as a result of activity by the Environmental Health Officers' Association. Incidentally it is the first occasion as far as we can recall that a prayer has been lodged against any of the rash of food regulations of recent years, and reflects the strong feelings of the public health inspectorate.