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1 – 10 of over 10000
Article
Publication date: 5 July 2013

Helen Lingard, Tracy Cooke, Nick Blismas and Ron Wakefield

The research aims to explore the interaction between design decisions that reduce occupational health and safety (OHS) risk in the operation stage of a facility's life cycle and…

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Abstract

Purpose

The research aims to explore the interaction between design decisions that reduce occupational health and safety (OHS) risk in the operation stage of a facility's life cycle and the OHS experiences of workers in the construction stage.

Design/methodology/approach

Data was collected from three construction projects in Australia. Design decisions were examined to understand the reasons they were made and the impact that they had on OHS in the construction and operation stages.

Findings

The case examples reveal that design decisions made to reduce OHS risk during the operation of a facility can introduce new hazards in the construction stage. These decisions are often influenced by stakeholders external to the project itself.

Research limitations/implications

The results provide preliminary evidence of challenges inherent in designing for OHS across the lifecycle of a facility. Further research is needed to identify and evaluate methods by which risk reduction across all stages of a facility's life cycle can be optimised.

Practical implications

The research highlights the need to manage tensions between designing for safe construction and operation of a facility.

Originality/value

Previous research assumes design decisions that reduce OHS risk in one stage of a facility's life cycle automatically translate to a net risk reduction across the life cycle. The research highlights the need to consider the implications of PtD decision‐making focused on one stage of the facility's life cycle for OHS outcomes in other stages.

Details

Built Environment Project and Asset Management, vol. 3 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2044-124X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 February 2019

Allegra Clare Schermuly and Helen Forbes-Mewett

This paper is drawn from a larger study investigating community perceptions of police legitimacy in the Monash Local Government Area (LGA), in the Australian state of Victoria…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper is drawn from a larger study investigating community perceptions of police legitimacy in the Monash Local Government Area (LGA), in the Australian state of Victoria. Monash had seen declining results in the official government survey in the indicators that assessed police legitimacy over the preceding decade. The purpose of this paper is to explore the perceptions of both migrant and non-migrant participants to understand the role of migrant status in influencing assessments of police legitimacy in Monash LGA.

Design/methodology/approach

Through six focus groups, 18 interviews and one e-mail response with 31 individuals, perceptions of Victoria Police among the communities of Monash were collated and analysed.

Findings

One of the key findings of the study was that ethnic diversity and/or migrant status of community members were a key factor raised in response to questions about community perceptions of the legitimacy of Victoria Police in Monash LGA. Demographic change had been significant in Monash LGA over the preceding decade, including increasing ethnic diversity in the population and a shift in migration patterns from predominantly European to migrants from East and South Asia. In this paper, the authors suggest that the migrant status of Monash residents was a key factor that both migrant and non-migrant participants thought influenced perceptions of the police. Accordingly, because migrants make up a significant cohort of Australia’s population, we afford due attention to this previously overlooked topic.

Practical implications

The practical implications of this paper are as follows: existing Victoria Police partnerships in the Monash community should be continued and expanded where possible; Victoria Police should also prioritise partnerships with large, new migrant communities, for example, Monash’s Chinese communities; orientation for new migrants to Victoria around the criminal justice system, including Victoria Police, would help new migrants be more aware of their rights and what to expect of law enforcement in their new host country; police should continue to increase representation of ethnic diversity in the force via recruitment of greater numbers of ethnically diverse police members.

Originality/value

Although there have been previous Australian studies on migrant status as a factor in perceptions of criminal justice (see Murphy and Cherney, 2011, 2012; Hong Chui and Kwok-Yin Cheng, 2014), the paper identifies a distinct narrative around migrants’ views of Victoria Police which the authors believe warrant further investigation using an example from a local context. Furthermore, most research in this field has been quantitative. The current study provides additional new insights through an in-depth qualitative approach.

Details

Journal of Criminological Research, Policy and Practice, vol. 5 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2056-3841

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 October 2005

Kathleen M. Fennessy

In 1870, after a decade of vigorous public debate over the economic importance of technical and scientific learning for the colony’s development, the Industrial and Technological…

Abstract

In 1870, after a decade of vigorous public debate over the economic importance of technical and scientific learning for the colony’s development, the Industrial and Technological Museum was established in the city of Melbourne ‘as a means of public instruction’ for the people of Victoria. Founded in February 1870 and officially opened on 8 September 1870, the new public museum occupied the building erected at the rear of the Public Library for the 1866 International Exhibition. The Industrial and Technological Museum, later the Science Museum and now part of Museum Victoria, was directed by J. Cosmo Newbery and managed by a sectional committee of the Public Library, Museums, and National Gallery of Victoria Trust, which Parliament had incorporated and enlarged in December 1869.

Details

History of Education Review, vol. 34 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0819-8691

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 December 1997

Darren Palmer

Describes how, in the 1970s and 1980s the issues of formal political accountability and police powers dominated debates about policing. However, as programs designed to “reinvent…

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Abstract

Describes how, in the 1970s and 1980s the issues of formal political accountability and police powers dominated debates about policing. However, as programs designed to “reinvent government” have developed, police, like other public sector agencies, are increasingly subject to the practices of “new managerialism”. One technique used to promote change to the practices of managing the Victorian Police Force was the introduction of the Police Board in 1992. While formally limited from considering operational matters, the research program of the Police Board already indicates the possibilities of significant changes to police work practices. Examines the context within which the Police Board. Provides an outline of the research program of the Police Board. Argues that the Police Board and its research program are suggestive of the need to infuse debates about police practices and police accountability with analysis of managerialism

Details

Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, vol. 20 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-951X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 July 2006

Simon Smith and Richard J. Pech

Scientists are known for their good ideas, but packaging those ideas into a commercial format requires skills, funding, and processes for which many scientists and their research…

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Abstract

Purpose

Scientists are known for their good ideas, but packaging those ideas into a commercial format requires skills, funding, and processes for which many scientists and their research institutions are all too often not equipped. The Victorian Government of Australia has developed a successful initiative designed to facilitate and commercialise scientific innovations. The purpose of this paper is to document the processes and the lessons drawn from the establishment of the Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) Initiative.

Design/methodology/approach

This case study describes the Australian state of Victoria's STI Initiative over a four year period from its inception. The program was designed to enhance the ability to compete globally through commercialisation of Victoria's science capability and to facilitate greater industry innovation through collaboration with the science community.

Findings

The STI case demonstrates how the program has exceeded expectations with proven return on investment in less than four years. The case describes the STI's history, structure, strategies, processes, and methods of monitoring and evaluation. It also describes problems and difficulties that have occurred and how these were overcome. One of the major findings of the STI Initiative concerns the development of governance structures for each project. Rather than introducing rigidity and decision speed‐bumps, the introduction of well‐designed governance structures provides rapid and useful feedback and favourable control measures.

Practical implications

A large part of managing STI projects involves the establishment of funded grants and the development and management of commercial objectives and cooperation between the science and commercial sectors. It is argued that this successful format for commercialising science and facilitating innovation can be templated and therefore duplicated by governments almost anywhere in the world.

Originality/value

The lessons from this case study support the argument that there is a need for structure to formalise a successful relationship between industry, science, government, and investors. The paper provides a format for such a structure based on the experiences of the STI Initiative based in Victoria, Australia.

Details

European Journal of Innovation Management, vol. 9 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1460-1060

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 2005

Max Liddell

This paper explores a major pathway that lead people into the ranks of the homeless, the mental health and the justice systems ‐ abuse as a child followed by time in the care of…

Abstract

This paper explores a major pathway that lead people into the ranks of the homeless, the mental health and the justice systems ‐ abuse as a child followed by time in the care of the state. The focus is on Australia with particular emphasis on the Australian state of Victoria as a case example and on the child welfare systems which produce these outcomes. The author argues that child welfare analyses are usually too narrow in their focus. The paper examines the history of the development of child welfare systems in Australia since white settlement in the various colonies in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The author demonstrates some of the wide variety of factors that produce the many negative child welfare outcomes. The original focus of child welfare systems in Australia were largely on social control of the street behaviours of children and the perceived immoral behaviour of their parents, especially their mothers. The developing systems further featured parsimonious service provision, limited visions for the future of the children, and exploitation of their labour. Swings to and from institutional and foster care as the key program responses were usually based on inadequacies of previous systems, the perceived need to control costs, and the perceived inadequacies of the non‐government service providers, rather than careful analysis of and response to the needs of children. Service redevelopment and especially reliance on family support in the late twentieth century has occurred while the traditional issues and problems, including abuse of children in care, remain current and unresolved. The development of managerialist public service practices in recent decades has added to the traditional isolation and lack of integration of the various child welfare components and actively hindered the development of an integrated system. An emphasis on minimal intervention, together with the other factors, has produced a situation in which children are frequently left at risk by the very systems supposed to protect them. The author concludes that not only do the lessons and mistakes of history need to be heeded, but that the principles, programs and management practices of child welfare need to be seen in combination as the factors which set child welfare clients on the road to homelessness or mental health and justice facilities.

Details

International Journal of Prisoner Health, vol. 1 no. 2/3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1744-9200

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 June 2017

Troy E. McEwan, Stuart Bateson and Susanne Strand

Police play an essential role in reducing harms associated with family violence by identifying people at increased risk of physical or mental health-related harm and linking them…

1296

Abstract

Purpose

Police play an essential role in reducing harms associated with family violence by identifying people at increased risk of physical or mental health-related harm and linking them with support services. Yet police are often poorly trained and resourced to conduct the kind of assessments necessary to identify family violence cases presenting with increased risk. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper describes a multi-project collaboration between law enforcement, forensic mental health, and academia that has over three years worked to improve risk assessment and management of family violence by police in Victoria, Australia.

Findings

Evaluation of existing risk assessment instruments used by the state-wide police force showed they were ineffective in predicting future police reports of family violence (AUC=0.54-0.56). However, the addition of forensic psychology expertise to specialist family violence teams increased the number of risk management strategies implemented by police, and suggested that the Brief Spousal Assault Form for the Evaluation of Risk assessment instrument may be appropriate for use by Australian police (AUC=0.63).

Practical implications

The practical implications of this study are as follows: police risk assessment procedures should be subject to independent evaluation to determine whether they are performing as intended; multidisciplinary collaboration within police units can improve police practice; drawing on expertise from agencies external to police offers a way to improve evidence-based policing, and structured professional judgement risk assessment can be used in policing contexts with appropriate training and support.

Originality/value

The paper describes an innovative collaboration between police, mental health, and academia that is leading to improved police practices in responding to family violence. It includes data from the first evaluation of an Australian risk assessment instrument for family violence, and describes methods of improving police systems for responding to family violence.

Details

Journal of Criminological Research, Policy and Practice, vol. 3 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2056-3841

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 July 2017

Alice Huguet, Caitlin C. Farrell and Julie A. Marsh

The use of data for instructional improvement is prevalent in today’s educational landscape, yet policies calling for data use may result in significant variation at the school…

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Abstract

Purpose

The use of data for instructional improvement is prevalent in today’s educational landscape, yet policies calling for data use may result in significant variation at the school level. The purpose of this paper is to focus on tools and routines as mechanisms of principal influence on data-use professional learning communities (PLCs).

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected through a comparative case study of two low-income, low-performing schools in one district. The data set included interview and focus group transcripts, observation field notes and documents, and was iteratively coded.

Findings

The two principals in the study employed tools and routines differently to influence ways that teachers interacted with data in their PLCs. Teachers who were given leeway to co-construct data-use tools found them to be more beneficial to their work. Findings also suggest that teachers’ data use may benefit from more flexibility in their day-to-day PLC routines.

Research limitations/implications

Closer examination of how tools are designed and time is spent in data-use PLCs may help the authors further understand the influence of the principal’s role.

Originality/value

Previous research has demonstrated that data use can improve teacher instruction, yet the varied implementation of data-use PLCs in this district illustrates that not all students have an equal opportunity to learn from teachers who meaningfully engage with data.

Details

Journal of Educational Administration, vol. 55 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0957-8234

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 September 2001

Leesa Wheelahan and Richard Carter

National training packages have become the mandated framework for course delivery in Australia’s vocational education and training sector. Each training package contains…

4176

Abstract

National training packages have become the mandated framework for course delivery in Australia’s vocational education and training sector. Each training package contains: qualifications that can be issued, industry‐derived competencies, and assessment guidelines but do not contain an endorsed curriculum component or learning outcomes. All public and private vocational education and training providers must use training packages, or industry‐endorsed competencies in cases where they do not exist, if they are to receive public funding for their programs. This article describes the operation of Australia’s national training packages and considers some of their strengths and weaknesses, many of which may be shared by similar systems elsewhere. Argues that training packages may result in poorer student learning outcomes, and that they may threaten the end of effective credit transfer between the vocational education and training and higher education sectors. Suggests that national training packages are not a good model for other countries and that Australia’s current vocational education and training policy needs to be reviewed.

Details

Education + Training, vol. 43 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0040-0912

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 August 1996

John Robinson

The BC Buildings Corporation was created in 1977 as the successor to the Ministry of Public Works in the province of British Columbia. Over 22 million square feet of space, owned…

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Abstract

The BC Buildings Corporation was created in 1977 as the successor to the Ministry of Public Works in the province of British Columbia. Over 22 million square feet of space, owned and leased, is managed by the Corporation. Budgets for all space built by the Corporation are developed through market costing, valuation and economic analysis. Analyses two major development projects recently constructed and/or planned by the Corporation, namely: a residential land subdivision developed on a former correctional prison site, and a major office building. Offers a critique of the advantages and disadvantages of the residual approach to valuation in the context of the projects discussed. Outlines and comments on findings of a survey undertaken by the Corporation on the development and investment industries’ approach to economic analysis and valuation. Summarizes changes made to the Corporation’s approach to major development project analysis as a result of recent experience and the survey, and discusses the future role of valuation and the valuer in major developments.

Details

Journal of Property Valuation and Investment, vol. 14 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0960-2712

Keywords

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