Pure meat – Public perceptions of risk reduction strategies in meat production

Experience has shown that both the assessment and implementation of new technologies in food production are challenged by negative assessments of the technologies by the public. This article seeks to deepen our understanding of the concerns that may underlie negative attitudes to various kinds of risk reduction strategy in meat production, with the aim of distinguishing between forms of risk reduction in terms of their acceptability. The paper reports the result of a focus-group study. Six focus groups with Danish citizens (N: 5–9) were conducted during May 2006. The design of the groups took a bottom-up approach and included elements of meat quality, meat safety and risk reduction strategies. The study shows the dilemma risk reduction presents to members of the public. On the one hand, people want safe meat; on the other, the study showed that with the exception of hygiene practices, people generally have an aversion to risk reduction strategies. Some variation was found, however, in the rejection of the strategies. Thus, more acceptable strategies are characterised by a low degree of technological interference, and by being close to the consumer’s experience in everyday life and/or familiar to the participants’ picture of meat production. It is also important that the strategy does not alter the quality of the end-product (meat) in an unfavourable way. The implications of the results and the inherent dilemma for meat safety policy formation are discussed.     

An investigation of restaurant food safety performance: A comparison between ethnic and nonethnic and chain and independent restaurants in Louisiana

This study examines health inspection data from casual dining restaurants and compares differences of food code violations between ethnic and nonethnic restaurants. A total of 7,415 violations were retrieved from the restaurant inspection reports of 769 restaurants. Ethnic restaurants have more violations than nonethnic restaurant in categories related to food time/temperature violations, cross contamination, and food condition/surface/labels. Nonethnic and chain restaurants had fewer behavioral violations than ethnic and independently operated restaurants. Ethnic restaurants were 1.74 times more likely than nonethnic restaurants to have critical violations. Meanwhile, independent restaurants were 1.64 times more likely than chain restaurants to have critical violations.     

Psychological safety climate and workplace bullying in Vietnam’s public sector

The bureaucratic and impersonal nature of public management can fertilize workplace bullying and risks for psychological health and safety. Psychological safety climate (PSC) is an important indicator to reduce psychological hazards. Yet, there have been few studies conducted to examine the existence of PSC in the public sector in non-Western economies. This study examined the implementation of PSC and its effects on 274 employees from six branches of a Vietnamese public sector organization. The results suggest that senior management in organizations should consider positive work conditions and an effective system of policies, procedures, and practices for the prevention of psychosocial hazards.     

Analysis of Consumer Preferences for Quality and Safety Attributes in Artisanal Fruit Juices in Kenya

This study used choice experiment survey data from a random sample of 374 respondents to analyze consumer preferences for quality and safety attributes of artisanal fruit juices in Kenya. Results show that consumers had a positive and significant preference for single fruit juices compared to fruit mixtures, private rather than public inspection of the juices, traceability of fruit origin, and vendor’s health. Additives such as colorants, flavors, and preservatives were not preferred. Consumers were willing to pay premiums of up to 200% for artisanal juices that contain single fruits, lack additives, and are inspected by private agencies. These insights should be incorporated in ensuring that artisanal fruit juice designs comply with food quality and safety requirements. Further, there is a need to license and regulate the artisanal juice preparation and handling and to provide training to the handlers on safety and quality requirements.     

Risk analysis of the EASA minimum fuel requirements considering the ACARE-defined safety target

We present the results of flight simulator experiments (60 runs) with randomly selected airline pilots under realistic operational conditions and discuss them in light of current fuel regulations and potential fuel starvation. The experiments were conducted to assess flight crew performance in handling complex technical malfunctions including decision-making in fourth-generation jet aircraft. Our analysis shows that the current fuel requirements of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) are not sufficient to guarantee the safety target of the Advisory Council for Aviation Research and Innovation in Europe (ACARE), which is less than one accident in 10 million flights. To comply with this safety target, we recommend increasing the Final Reserve Fuel from 30 min to 45 min for jet aircraft. The minimum dispatched fuel upon landing should be at least 1 h.     

陶二煤矿突出煤层石门反向揭煤技术研究

在突出矿井突出煤层石门揭煤过程中,由于穿越石门和煤门的距离长,工程周期长,揭煤时诱发突出危险的可能性大,而且在放炮揭煤时很难一次揭穿煤层,极易发生延期突出,一直以来是煤矿防突技术难题,给生命和财产带来巨大损失。陶二煤矿利用石门反向揭煤技术安全快速揭开高突煤层,具有抽放时间短、节省岩石钻孔工程量等技术优点,为煤与瓦斯突出矿井石门揭煤探索出一条安全、快速的技术途径。     

北京市五星级酒店食品安全现状分析

本文以五星级酒店为研究对象,分析五星级酒店存在的食品安全问题,并针对这些问题提出解决对策,以期保证酒店餐饮食品安全,提高五星级酒店服务质量。     

Dose safety motivation mediate the effect of psychological contract of safety on flight attendants' safety performance outcomes?: A social exchange perspective

This study proposes and tests a conceptual model that investigates the mediating effect of safety motivation linking psychological contract of safety (PCS) as manifested by employer obligations of safety and employee obligations of safety to safety violations and safety creative performance (SCP). Data were collected from a sample of flight attendants with two weeks time lag in Iran. Underpinned by social exchange theory, the results of structural equation modeling revealed that safety motivation fully mediates the simultaneous effects of PCS indicators on safety violations and SCP. Specifically, indicators of PCS jointly enhance safety motivation. In turn, safety motivation reduces safety violations, while enhancing SCP. Theoretical and practical implications evoked from the results advance existing knowledge of organizationally social interactions in promoting safety and the motivational mechanism through which PCS predicts employees' safety performance outcomes.     

Fluctuating levels of personal role engagement within the working day: A multilevel study

In this diary study, we examined a theoretical model in which the psychological conditions of meaningfulness, availability, and safety serve as mechanisms through which the work context during discrete situations within the workday influences “state” engagement. We further theorised that a person's “trait” level of engagement would exert cross‐level effects on the state level relationships. Multilevel analyses based on a sample of 124 individuals in six organisations and 1,446 situational observations revealed that meaningfulness and availability (but not safety) mediated the relationships between perceptions of the work context and state engagement. High levels of trait engagement strengthened the within‐person relation between availability and state engagement, yet weakened the within‐person relation between meaningfulness and state engagement, suggesting two different processes may be at play. Overall, the findings advance our understanding of engagement as a multilevel and temporally dynamic psychological phenomenon and promote a contextually based HRM approach to facilitating engagement.     

大断面煤层沿空巷内支护加固技术研究

地下岩体在开采之前,由于自重和构造所引起的应力是处于平衡状态的,当掘巷道或者进行回采工作时,就破坏了原来应力的平衡状态,使岩体内部应力重新分布,具体表现在巷体周围的煤、岩体产生移动、变形,直到煤和岩体内部形成新的应力平衡状态为止。在煤的开掘过程中,由于采掘活动引起巷道围岩应力集中和重新分配,为了防止围岩变形遭到破坏,需要对围岩进行支护和加固。本文就大断面煤层沿空巷内支护加固技术进行研究,以便为煤矿在开采过程中积累一些技术和经验。