Employment Law and Human Resources Handbook 2012

Employment Law and Human Resources Handbook 2012
Author: Workplace Law Group
Publisher: Kogan Page Publishers
Total Pages: 610
Release: 2011-12-03
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0749466405

The Employment Law and Human Resources Handbook 2012 provides you with all the essential information you need on legislation, regulation, policy, case law and best practice. Information is presented in plain English, and broken down into separate A-Z sections containing legislative summaries, key points, handy fact boxes and sources of further information. All the guidance is written and compiled by our team of expert authors, including top law firms, HR consultants and regulatory bodies. Workplace Law's Employment Law and Human Resources Handbook is aimed at all those with an interest in the employment and HR aspects of the workplace, and so our readership consists mainly of HR managers, officers and directors, Personnel managers, as well as General Managers and Directors of small businesses.

Cleaning Up

Cleaning Up
Author: Dan Zuberi
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 197
Release: 2013-09-20
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0801469821

To cut costs and maximize profits, hospitals in the United States and many other countries are outsourcing such tasks as cleaning and food preparation to private contractors. In Cleaning Up, the first book to examine this transformation in the healthcare industry, Dan Zuberi looks at the consequences of outsourcing from two perspectives: its impact on patient safety and its role in increasing socioeconomic inequality. Drawing on years of field research in Vancouver, Canada as well as data from hospitals in the U.S. and Europe, he argues that outsourcing has been disastrous for the cleanliness of hospitals—leading to an increased risk of hospital-acquired infections, a leading cause of severe illness and death—as well as for the effective delivery of other hospital services and the workers themselves. Zuberi’s interviews with the low-wage workers who keep hospitals running uncover claims of exposure to near-constant risk of injury and illness. Many report serious concerns about the quality of the work due to understaffing, high turnover, poor training and experience, inadequate cleaning supplies, and on-the-job injuries. Zuberi also presents policy recommendations for improving patient safety by reducing the risk of hospital-acquired infection and ameliorating the work conditions and quality of life of hospital support workers. He makes the case that hospital outsourcing exemplifies the trend towards “low-road” service-sector jobs that threatens to undermine society’s social health, as well as the physical health and well-being of patients in health care settings globally.

Temporary Work, Agencies and Unfree Labour

Temporary Work, Agencies and Unfree Labour
Author: Judy Fudge
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 234
Release: 2013-08-29
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1136278486

Unfree labor has not disappeared from advanced capitalist economies. In this sense the debates among and between Marxist and orthodox economic historians about the incompatibility of capitalism and unfree labor are moot: the International Labour Organisation has identified forced, coerced, and unfree labor as a contemporary issue of global concern. Previously hidden forms of unfree labor have emerged in parallel with several other well-documented trends affecting labor conditions, rights, and modes of regulation. These evolving types of unfree labor include the increasing normalization of contingent work (and, by extension, the undermining of the standard contract of employment), and an increase in labor intermediation. The normative, political, and numerical rise of temporary employment agencies in many countries in the last three decades is indicative of these trends. It is in the context of this rapidly changing landscape that this book consolidates and expands on research designed to understand new institutions for work in the global era. This edited collection provides a theoretical and empirical exploration of the links between unfree labor, intermediation, and modes of regulation, with particular focus on the evolving institutional forms and political-economic contexts that have been implicated in, and shaped by, the ascendency of temp agencies. What is distinctive about this collection is this bi-focal lens: it makes a substantial theoretical contribution by linking disparate literatures on, and debates about, the co-evolution of contingent work and unfree labor, new forms of labor intermediation, and different regulatory approaches; but it further lays the foundation for this theory in a series of empirically rich and geographically diverse case studies. This integrative approach is grounded in a cross-national comparative framework, using this approach as the basis for assessing how, and to what extent, temporary agency work can be considered unfree wage labor

Statistical Downscaling and Bias Correction for Climate Research

Statistical Downscaling and Bias Correction for Climate Research
Author: Douglas Maraun
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 366
Release: 2018-01-18
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1108340644

Statistical downscaling and bias correction are becoming standard tools in climate impact studies. This book provides a comprehensive reference to widely-used approaches, and additionally covers the relevant user context and technical background, as well as a synthesis and guidelines for practitioners. It presents the main approaches including statistical downscaling, bias correction and weather generators, along with their underlying assumptions, skill and limitations. Relevant background information on user needs and observational and climate model uncertainties is complemented by concise introductions to the most important concepts in statistical and dynamical modelling. A substantial part is dedicated to the evaluation of regional climate projections and their value in different user contexts. Detailed guidelines for the application of downscaling and the use of downscaled information in practice complete the volume. Its modular approach makes the book accessible for developers and practitioners, graduate students and experienced researchers, as well as impact modellers and decision makers.

Security Sector Reform in Conflict-Affected Countries

Security Sector Reform in Conflict-Affected Countries
Author: Mark Sedra
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 353
Release: 2016-11-03
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1317390814

This book examines the evolution, impact, and future prospects of the Security Sector Reform (SSR) model in conflict-affected countries in the context of the wider debate over the liberal peace project. Since its emergence as a concept in the late 1990s, SSR has represented a paradigm shift in security assistance, from the realist, regime-centric, train-and-equip approach of the Cold War to a new liberal, holistic and people-centred model. The rapid rise of this model, however, belied its rather meagre impact on the ground. This book critically examines the concept and its record of achievement over the past two decades, putting it into the broader context of peace-building and state-building theory and practice. It focuses attention on the most common, celebrated and complex setting for SSR, conflict-affected environments, and comparatively examines the application and impacts of donor-supported SSR programing in a series of conflict-affected countries over the past two decades, including Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo, East Timor and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The broader aim of the book is to better understand how the contemporary SSR model has coalesced over the past two decades and become mainstreamed in international development and security policy and practice. This provides a solid foundation to investigate the reasons for the poor performance of the model and to assess its prospects for the future. This book will be of much interest to students of international security, peacebuilding, statebuilding, development studies and IR in general.

Handbook on Tunnels and Underground Works

Handbook on Tunnels and Underground Works
Author: Emilio Bilotta
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 414
Release: 2022-02-23
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1000538656

The book provides a new, global, updated, thorough, clear and practical risk-based approach to tunnelling design and construction methods, and discusses detailed examples of solutions applied to relevant case histories. It is organized in three sequential and integrated volumes: Volume 1: Concept – Basic Principles of Design Volume 2: Construction – Methods, Equipment, Tools and Materials Volume 3: Case Histories and Best Practices The book covers all aspects of tunnelling, giving useful and practical information about design (Volume 1), construction (Volume 2) and best practices (Volume 3). It provides the following features and benefits: updated vision on tunnelling design, tools, materials and construction balanced mix of theory, technology and applied experience different and harmonized points of view from academics, professionals and contractors easy consultation in the form of a handbook risk-oriented approach to tunnelling problems. The tunnelling industry is amazingly widespread and increasingly important all over the world, particularly in developing countries. The possible audience of the book are engineers, geologists, designers, constructors, providers, contractors, public and private customers, and, in general, technicians involved in the tunnelling and underground works industry. It is also a suitable source of information for industry professionals, senior undergraduate and graduate students, researchers and academics.

Stabilization Operations, Security and Development

Stabilization Operations, Security and Development
Author: Robert Muggah
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2013-07-24
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1135044481

This edited volume provides a critical overview of the new stabilization agenda in international relations. The primary focus of so-called stability operations since 9/11 has been Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq. Covering the wider picture, this volume provides a comprehensive assessment of the new agenda, including the expansion of efforts in Latin America, the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa and South and Southeast Asia. By harnessing the findings of studies undertaken in Brazil, Colombia, Haiti, Jamaica, Kenya, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Sudan and Sri Lanka, the volume demonstrates the impacts – intended and otherwise – of stabilization in practice. The book clarifies the debate on stabilization, focusing primarily on the policy, practice and outcomes of such operations. Rather than relying exclusively on existing military doctrine or academic writings, the volume focuses on stabilization as it is actually occurring. Drawing on the reflections of scholars and practitioners, the volume identifies the origins and historical antecedents of contemporary operations, and also examines how the practice is linked to other policy spheres – ranging from peacebuilding to statebuilding. Finally, the volume reviews eight practical cases of stabilization in disparate regions around the globe. This book will be of much interest to students of war and conflict studies, peacekeeping and peacebuilding, statebuilding, development studies and international relations in general.

Contractors and War

Contractors and War
Author: Christopher Kinsey
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Total Pages: 397
Release: 2012-07-25
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0804782938

The U.S. military is no longer based on a Cold War self-sufficient model. Today's armed forces are a third smaller than they were during the Cold War, and yet are expected to do as much if not more than they did during those years. As a result, a transformation is occurring in the way the U.S. government expects the military to conduct operations—with much of that transformation contingent on the use of contractors to deliver support to the armed forces during military campaigns and afterwards. Contractors and War explains the reasons behind this transformation and evaluates how the private sector will shape and be shaped by future operations. The authors are drawn from a range of policy, legislative, military, legal, and academic backgrounds. They lay out the philosophical arguments supporting the use of contractors in combat and stabilization operations and present a spectrum of arguments that support and criticize emergent private sector roles. The book provides fresh policy guidance to those who will research, direct, and carry out future deployments.