National Situation on OSH in Liberia

National Situation on OSH in Liberia Name of participant: Habib K.N Sheriff Proposals for the improvement the national situation on OSH in Liberia Introduction To protect workers health and safety, a system has to be in place to ensure that the health and safety of the employees are consistently protected void of type and class of work. This system must enforce workers protection independent of the employers will, i.e. the system must ensure that the employers doesnt act at his/her will and pleasure even if it endangers the health and safety of the employees. Currently, there exist no recognized structure/policy in Liberia; however, there are specialist organizations and government bodies with direct functions in specific OSH disciplines. Unfortunately, even these bodies are dormant. As the government is meant to protect its citizenry, they must take the lead in the protection of employees. As a significant responsibility, government is to ensure decent work for all workers which include safe work. This is not unique to Liberia; it is included in the ILO Convention on Occupational Health Services No. 161 describes the occupational health service as an integrated, comprehensive, multidisciplinary team entrusted with essentially preventive functions and responsible for advising employers, workers and their representatives in undertakings on improving health at work, improving the working environment, promoting workers health, adapting work to the physical and mental capabilities of workers, and the overall development of the structural and managerial aspects of the workplace needed for health and safety (Introduction to the National OSH System, 2015). The government of Liberia being a signatory to the Convention 155 and Recommendation 164 of Occupational Safety and Health, 1981 of the ILO must therefore develop a policy consistent with best practice and strongly supported by law and used it to enforce OSH best practice in the country. This policy must have the support most preferably of all branches of the government: an act endorse by parliament and signed into law, explained by the judiciary and enforced by the executive. In such way, the highest office i.e. the office of the President supports the document thereby giving it the much needed enforcement. Strength and weaknesses of current OSH structure of Liberia: Strength Currently, there are a number of government ministries responsible to execute various OSH duties in the Liberia. These ministries are supported by law to organized specialist teams that will assist the improvement of specific sector through engagement and enforcement. They are empower to varying extend depending on the body and task they have to perform. Some even have powers of arrest- Ministry of Gender and development has the power to arrest individuals involved in child labor practices and turn the culprit over to the Ministry of Justice for prosecution, while others have powers to issue stop order like those issued by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, and the Ministry of Labor. Weakness Unfortunately, there is little that is been done by each of these organization. They are either dormant or lacks the manpower and technical knowhow to execute their responsibilities. Also, the support from government is lacking in some area. A major challenge in the current structure is the definition of scope and responsibilities. Several ministries tend to repeat similar roles. This is worsened by very poor communication between line ministries on cross-functional subjects. This result to unnecessary repetition like during inspections, and multiple instructions to businesses in the implementation of OSH. Proposed structure: Foundation Policy is commonly defined as a specific, deliberate course of action adopted by a government or public body to help fulfil its mandate. Any policy must be anchored in, and derive its authority from, formal legal powers and obligations and is thus an important instrument for decision-making processes. (National OSH Governance, 2015 edition), considering this definition, OSH must be enacted as the genesis for the formation of the system all that follows. This act will be aimed at strengthening its derivatives- the resulting policies and procedure. This act will be implemented through the established structure within the national framework. There must be agencies with responsibilities to perform different roles and develop regulations and Code of practices. With the support of the act, agencies can be held liable for not implementing these regulations or failure to meet best practice as prescribe in the Code of practice. Overtime, there will be collective barging which will further aid the full implementation of the policy and where necessary, technical standards to will be given by the responsible agency/authority to ensure bottle-necks are remove. Stakeholders structure Liberia has numerous ministries with OSH responsibilities, these ministries must be properly coordinated through a Competent Authority (CA) this CA must be legislated and made semi-autonomous to ensure that it acts with neither fear nor favor. The body should be so constituted and empower to countercheck the activities of line ministries responsible for the enforcement of OSH related issues in the country. For instance, in as much as health related subject falls within the ambit of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MOHSW), the CA should have the overall responsibility to check the ministry and ensure that agencies are complying with regulations. Same must apply to the ministry of Labor which oversees labor related issues. The CA will oversee a tripartite council constituted by line ministries with OSH duties, private companies and workers council; also either as a part of the workers council or subsidiary bodies are the insurance and Traditional representation. This body- tripartite council will meet at regular intervals to discuss national OSH issues, whenever such meetings are held, the CA will chair and ensure proper documentation are stored with the authority. Other major bodies: Insurance bodies Although not directed regarded when naming the tripartite council, insurance plays a cardinal role in the overall establishment and maintenance of the OSH system in a country. Naturally, proper OSH management tends to greatly benefit insurance agencies by reducing compensation they pay out and increase their income. Therefore, when insurance agencies pay special attention to OSH by supporting proactive projects- prevention projects/campaigns, there will be marked improvement in the overall OSH system of the country. Traditional bodies To achieve realistic compliance to OSH policies, it is only wise to involve stakeholders having direct impacts on both the formal and informal occupational sector. In Liberia, farming is done basically through traditional methods and involves illiterate farmers using local methods. The importance of having this group represented cannot be overemphasized. Any council without a full representation of this group is incomplete because it excludes a significant number of workers hence it is not a proper representation of the overall workforce. Moreover, formulation of effective guidelines can only be done if the nature of the problem is fully understood. To understand the problem, there must be consultation which cannot be actualized without the involvement of local farmers; therefore, it is best to have the fullest representation of those carrying on the task when reviewing issues and making decisions. Rules and directives must be applicable to the people in the region for which they are design. If the tools use by a particular group of people is not known, how does a person risk assessing the task know the hazards inherent in such task? Benefits of the competent authority: Ambiguity The CA will remove ambiguity among ministries by deciding their scope and limitations in OSH. Quite frequently, line ministries do no fully know the limitations of their OSH duties as other ministries have similar functions. For instance, the Ministry of Labor (MOL) is responsible to ensure that working conditions are decent for all workers, this also is the responsible of the MOHSW who is responsible to ensure health care is optimum the workplace and that the working conditions doesnt hamper the health of the workers. Coordination A CA will ensure better coordination through joint projects and optimizing specialist skills when and where necessary. For instance, although decent work involves both MOHSW and MOL, where health is a key indicator of decent work, better coordination between these two line ministries will assist in deciding that MOHSW takes the lead due to their specialist skills in health. Unnecessary repetition and inspection CA will define the roles and limitations of each ministry. Since ministries have repeated or closely similar roles, some inspections are carried out more than once, this result to apprehension amongst businesses and industries at which these inspections are carried out, hence much lack of cooperation. Define reporting structure As a basic responsibility of the CA, it will collect reports on a timely basis and follow-up on gaps in various agencies. This define structure will regulate line ministries and agencies in complying with established guidelines. Also, reporting will aid during auditors to cross checked what is reported against what exist in the workplace. By this means, greater focus will be placed on the needed areas and removed the need for unnecessary attention. Technical services This body must be so constituted to have the necessary technical experience to facilitate training and provide assistance to various entities on OSH related subjects. Trainings should not be limited to technical services (working at height, use of PPE, lifting rigging and slinging, manual handling etc.); it should also include administration and structure in OSH. As the OSH program is relatively new in Liberia, this body must have the needed funding from government to provide 75-90% of the training free. This will encourage greater participation of organizations especially profit making ones who view OSH as additional expenditure. Conclusion: In Liberia to achieve and maintain an OSH system, a policy must be formed and controlled by a CA. This can be achieved by forming a tripartite council which meets regularly to establish and review national OSH framework and develop a plan of action. This council headed by the CA will also be supplemented by other bodies which will have full rights- these bodies must include Insurance and Traditional bodies. Said council must be supported by an act of legislation, fully constituted by all the relevant stakeholders and have the needed technical experience to properly guide the implementation of established guidelines and code of practices. This will create a fertile environment for a fast growing OSH culture where there will be more voluntary compliance. Although voluntary compliance is sought, the overall priority is to protect workers from harm physically or mentally, therefore, the CA should be given enforcement powers to act without warning when necessary. All should be cone with a basic rule Decent/safe work for all employees. Bibliography: Occupational safety and health module 6.1 -2015 edition Occupational safety and health module 6.2 -2015 edition

Essay --

DNA isolation and amplification of ansA1 and ansA3 genes Good quality genomic DNA was isolated (Sambrook, et al 2002) and bothansA1 and ansA3 genes were amplified by PCR. Clear bands of both the genes showing a size of 1kb were observed under UV transilluminator after agarose gel electrophoresis (Fig 1). Figure 1: PCR amplification of both ansA1 and ansA3 genes: Lane (A): Step up 100bp marker, Lane (B): amplification of ansA1 gene, Lane (C): amplification of ansA3 gene Overexpression and purification The overexpressed recombinant proteins (rBliAI and rBliAIII) of B. licheniformis MTCC 429 were purified to homogeneity by affinity chromatography using Ni-NTA column. Overexpression of recombinant His-tagged asparaginase into E.coli leads to improvement in yield and affinity purification process of enzyme (Enriquez et al, 2012). The fractions showing presence of protein with the help of Bradford’s reagent were pooled together. The pooled protein solution was dialyzed against the same buffer and was checked for the L-asparaginase activity. The purified protein after SDS PAGE or Native PAGE showed a single band (Fig 2) illustrating its homogeneous nature. The molecular weight of the subunits of ansA1 and ansA3was found to be approximately 37kD after SDS PAGE analysis. SDS PAGE analysis of recombinant L-asparaginase from Pyrococcus furiosus displayed single 37kDa band (Bansal et al, 2010). In another study, recombinant ansA from Rhizobium etliin SDS-PAGE showed the presence of a single polypeptide chain of 47kDa (Enriquez et al, 2012).Native PAGE analysis showed the molecular weight of the purified protein as ~74 kDa. This study confirmed that the ansA1 and ansA3 enzymes from Bacillus licheniformis MTCC 429 are a homodimer in... ...8 1.50x106 Roth et al, 2013 Table Comparative kinetic parameters for hydrolysis of L-asparagine The kinetic properties of recombinant BliA were investigated and the parameters like kcat and kcat/Km were also studied with L-asparagine as a substrate. Comparative studies of the rBliA with asparaginases from various microbial sources showed that rBliA has lower Km value for L-asparagine (Table 2) confirming thatrBliA hasbetter affinity towards its substrate than other reported (Table) microbial sources. The catalytic constant (kcat) of rBliA was only 1.5 times higher than the L-asparaginase from E.coli and catalytic constant of rErAII was 1.35 times higher than rBliA. The absolute value of kcat/Km suggests the catalytic efficiency of the enzyme (Price and Nairn, 2009). kcat/Km of the rBliAIII was 5.4x 104 which is lower than the asparaginases from E.coli and Erwinia. Essay -- DNA isolation and amplification of ansA1 and ansA3 genes Good quality genomic DNA was isolated (Sambrook, et al 2002) and bothansA1 and ansA3 genes were amplified by PCR. Clear bands of both the genes showing a size of 1kb were observed under UV transilluminator after agarose gel electrophoresis (Fig 1). Figure 1: PCR amplification of both ansA1 and ansA3 genes: Lane (A): Step up 100bp marker, Lane (B): amplification of ansA1 gene, Lane (C): amplification of ansA3 gene Overexpression and purification The overexpressed recombinant proteins (rBliAI and rBliAIII) of B. licheniformis MTCC 429 were purified to homogeneity by affinity chromatography using Ni-NTA column. Overexpression of recombinant His-tagged asparaginase into E.coli leads to improvement in yield and affinity purification process of enzyme (Enriquez et al, 2012). The fractions showing presence of protein with the help of Bradford’s reagent were pooled together. The pooled protein solution was dialyzed against the same buffer and was checked for the L-asparaginase activity. The purified protein after SDS PAGE or Native PAGE showed a single band (Fig 2) illustrating its homogeneous nature. The molecular weight of the subunits of ansA1 and ansA3was found to be approximately 37kD after SDS PAGE analysis. SDS PAGE analysis of recombinant L-asparaginase from Pyrococcus furiosus displayed single 37kDa band (Bansal et al, 2010). In another study, recombinant ansA from Rhizobium etliin SDS-PAGE showed the presence of a single polypeptide chain of 47kDa (Enriquez et al, 2012).Native PAGE analysis showed the molecular weight of the purified protein as ~74 kDa. This study confirmed that the ansA1 and ansA3 enzymes from Bacillus licheniformis MTCC 429 are a homodimer in... ...8 1.50x106 Roth et al, 2013 Table Comparative kinetic parameters for hydrolysis of L-asparagine The kinetic properties of recombinant BliA were investigated and the parameters like kcat and kcat/Km were also studied with L-asparagine as a substrate. Comparative studies of the rBliA with asparaginases from various microbial sources showed that rBliA has lower Km value for L-asparagine (Table 2) confirming thatrBliA hasbetter affinity towards its substrate than other reported (Table) microbial sources. The catalytic constant (kcat) of rBliA was only 1.5 times higher than the L-asparaginase from E.coli and catalytic constant of rErAII was 1.35 times higher than rBliA. The absolute value of kcat/Km suggests the catalytic efficiency of the enzyme (Price and Nairn, 2009). kcat/Km of the rBliAIII was 5.4x 104 which is lower than the asparaginases from E.coli and Erwinia.

Focus paper: Teenage pregnancy Essay

There are many issues that are arising in the United States. These issues seem to catch media attention but they are publicized so much that teens believe it is all in fun. They don’t understand that doing drugs does not lead to fun partying. Becoming a dealer is not a quick way to cash it’s a quick way to death. Committing suicide does not make everything easier. The only person you took the pain away from was yourself. The media captures all these fun moments that people do with only a little bit of the bad. Teenager’s girls see all these other girls on T.V raising a baby and they think â€Å"hey I can do that.† Then reality kicks in and it is nothing like how it was on T.V. There are many issues among teens in the United States, but the focus on this paper is going to be following teenage pregnancy. In today’s society when someone hears that a young girl is pregnant they automatically think she was sleeping around. People jump to the conclusions and they don’t take time to realize there are many other causes for teenage pregnancy than the girl sleeping around. The reality of it is there are actually five major causes to teenage pregnancy. Peer pressure, underage drinking, glamorizing teen pregnancy, lack of knowledge and sexual rape are the five major causes of teenage pregnancy. Peer pressure is a cause for almost anything involving teenagers; whether it be for drugs, drinking or sex. Teenagers often feel pressure to make friends and fit in. Many times these teens let their friends influence their decision to have sex even when they do not fully understand the consequences. Teenagers have sex as a way to appear cool and to fit in, but in some cases the end result is an unplanned teen pregnancy. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation states that more than 29 per cent of pregnant teens reported that they felt pressured to have sex, and 33 percent of pregnant teens stated that they felt that they were not ready for a sexual relationship, but proceeded anyway. When peer pressure is involved to have sex that usually means that drinking is involved as well. Underage drinking is another cause that leads  to teenage pregnancy. Teen drinking can cause an unexpected pregnancy, according to the website Love to Know. Many teens experiment with drugs and alcohol. Drinking lowers a teen’s ability to control her impulses, contributing to 75 percent of pregnancies that occur between the ages 14 and 21. Approximately 91 percent of pregnant teens reported that although they were drinking at the time, they did not originally plan to have sex when they conceived. Peer pressure and underage drinking go hand in hand with teenage pregnancies. One leads to another which causes an unexpected pregnancy. Out of the other three causes glamorizing teenage pregnancy and lack of knowledge also go together. The movie industry and the media contribute to teenage pregnancy by glamorizing teen pregnancy in movies. Movies that show teen pregnancy as something to be desired encourage teens to engage in reckless sexual activity, according to ABC’s â€Å"Good Morning America.† During adolescence, teens become more focused on their appearance and how people view them. Teens see on T.V that there same age are having cute little babies so they go out and have sex without being fully educated in what that really is. Teenagers who are uneducated about sex are more likely to have an unintended pregnancy. Some teens do not fully understand the biological and emotional aspects associated with having sex, according to DailyRecord.co.uk. Many times, teens do not have the knowledge needed to make informed and responsible decisions abo ut whether or not to engage in sexual activity that can alter their life. Social media is not helping teenage pregnancy it is only causing young girls to go out and try it. The last and final cause for teenage pregnancy is rape. Teens can become pregnant as a result of sexual abuse or rape. The Guttmacher Institute states that between 43 and 62 percent of teens acknowledge that they were impregnated by an adult male, and two-thirds report that their babies’ fathers are as old as 27. Approximately 5 percent of all teen births are the result of a rape. People in society need to realize that teenage pregnancy is a big issue today. Many of these young girls don’t finish high school. Teen pregnancy greatly affects education. Only 51% of teen moms have a high school diploma. The number for those who didn’t have a teen birth is closer to 89%. Parenthood is the leading cause for teen girls dropping out of school. Teen moms are extremely unlikely to go to college. Only about 2% of young teen moms ever get a higher education degree. Statistics show that In  the United States, there are nearly 750,000 teen pregnancies each year, that’s about 2000 a day! . It’s estimated that about half of Latina and African American teenagers will be pregnant a t least once before they’re 20.Raising a baby can cost up to $10,000 in the first year alone. About 80% of teen fathers don’t marry the mom. They also contribute very little to raising the baby. On average, teen dads pay less than $800 a year on child support. Teenage pregnancy is an issue just like drug use and alcohol abuse that needs to be looked into. There is no way to stop teenage pregnancy. Talking to teens about it is not going to stop them when they are at a party and alcohol is involved. Instead contraception’s should be provided in public bathrooms, schools and encouraged to be available at home. Many believe that providing protection in schools will only encourage teens to have sex. Reality is they are going to have it whether there is protection or not, so why not provide them the right choice of using protection. Maybe if protection is provided there will be less unexpected pregnancies in the United States.

Anxiety and Competitive Sports - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 3 Words: 1046 Downloads: 7 Date added: 2019/04/01 Category Psychology Essay Level High school Tags: Anxiety Essay Did you like this example? When athletes prepare for a competition or performance, mental health is often neglected and not given a second thought. The athlete will condition their body, physically readying themselves to be pushed during competition. However, it might be worthwhile if athletes asked themselves how their mental health could affect their performance. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Anxiety and Competitive Sports" essay for you Create order Various studies have been conducted to observe the ways anxiety, in particular, can alter performance from practice to competitions. Anxiety may be reported by an athlete when they are unsure of whether they can handle situations contributing stress (Hardy, Jones, Gould, 1995). Martens, et al (1990) contributed three subscales, used to describe athletes anxiety participating in various sports, onto the existing knowledge of anxiety and athletic performance. These three subscales include cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, and self-confidence, which all play a role in an athletes performance. This multidimensional anxiety theory suggests that cognitive anxiety will negatively effect performance if arousal is high, entailing a negative linear relation with performance (Hardy, et al., 1996). On the other hand, somatic anxiety displays a curvilinear relation and self-confidence has a positive linear relation with performance (Martens, et al., 1990). A common questionnaire that was completed in various studies was the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2, 30 minutes to an hour before competition (Tsopani, Dallas, Skordilis, 2011). The Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 measures the intensity of symptoms which in turn can determine the presence of anxiety. When participants take this CSAI-2 they respond to 27 items rating each on a 4-point scale; using 1: not at all and 4: very much so (Martens, et al., 1990). A greater presence in these three subscales are indicated by higher scores. These results help to determine how an athlete feels concerning the competition at hand and how it may affect performance. Questioning how anxiety can affect an athlete during competitive play is important to improving their skills. Performance is not only determined by physical readiness, but also by an athletes mental state. It is hypothesized that athletes who contribute time towards their mental health will perform better. Additionally, those showing little symptoms of anxiety will perform better than those showing more. Cognitive anxiety increases worry or doubt, threatening an athletes persuit and well-being. When cognitive anxiety is low is when an athlete will perform the best (Kais, Raudsepp, 2004). In the studies conducted and reported by Graham Jones (1992), Austin Swain (1992), Despoina Tsopani (2011), George Dallas (2011), Emmanouli K. Skordilis (2011), Kristjan Kais (2004) and Lennart Raudsepp (2004), each participant completed CSAI-2 30-60 min before the competition to measure cogenitive anxiety. This did not interfere with preparation routines for the players. The participants were than observed during the competitions looking for mistakes or accomplishments each player achieved (Tsopani, et al., 2011). This would later determine if the results from the CSAI-2 affected their performance. The test conducted by Jones and Swain (1992) separated the 69 subjects in two groups: high or low competitive subjects. They took athletes from various sports and compared their results. Using the results given by the participants from the CSAI-2, they determined how cognitive anxiety differed between the high and low competitive subjects. In result, the more competitive subjects reported their cognitive anxiety considerably more facilitative than the less competitive subjects, positively affecting their performance (Jones, Swain, 1992). In the study conducted by Tsopani, et al., where 86 young gymnasts were observed, the results contradicted those of Jones Swain (1992). It was shown that highly competitive athletes were lower on cognitive anxiety. Additionally, Kais Raudsepp (2004) found that their 66 participants performed more effectively when they perceived their cognitive anxiety as facilitative. Thus, Jones Swain (1992) and Kais Raudsepp (2004) both found the athletes to perform better because of their perceptions on their cognitive anxiety, although cognitive anxiety had no real affect on performance. In comparison, somatic anxiety refers to the physical symptoms of anxiety in athletes, including increased heart rate, butterflies, elevated blood pressure, and more (Kais Raudsepp, 2004). Alongside cognitive anxiety, there was no statistically significant difference between cognitive and somatic anxiety. Athletes rated and perceived these two similar to one another. Self-confidence is known as the feeling of trust in ones ability to execute a task efficiently and effectively. This aspect of the multidimensional model played a significant role on how athletes performed. The way they perceived them selves in the way they played affected their performance. Jones Swain (1992) found that the highly competitive group found their self-confidence more facilitating than the low competitive group, greatly affecting performance. Tsopani, et al. (2011) stated that the only statistically significant aspect proved to be self-confidence. Female gymnasts with higher self-confidence performed higher. Reports also showed that gymnasts with lower self-confidence showed signs of shaky stances, and unbalanced performances. Furthermore, Kais Raudsepp (2004) reported results suggesting self-confidence as a construct that can greatly influence performance above affects by cognitive or somatic anxiety. There were several limitations regarding each study conducted. Jones Swain (1992) and Tsopani et al. (2011) gathered subjects that participated in the same sport at the same level while Kais Raudsepp (2004) studied athletes from varying sports. This may cause a discrepancy when comparing the athletes anxiety and self-confidence due to the different sports. These sports may not entail the same guidelines and rules athletes are to follow. Alongside this, Tsopani et al. (2011) only examined gymnasts aged 11-12, not offering results from older and more experienced athletes. Lastly, in all three reports, the intensity of anxiety was not taken during or after the competition. This eliminates the opportunity to assess anxiety and its affect in all stages of mental performance. Taking in results from all stages of the competition may offer an improvement to predicting anxieties influence. The findings of these studies support the idea that athletes perceptions of their own anxiety offer an understanding of competitive state-anxiety. Even though the symptoms of anxiety may not affect athletes negatively does not excuse its affects in a positive aspect. These affects may even be necessary for a positive affect on performance. Although, what may be perceived as positive anxiety could be merely the states of excitement, arousal, or motivation. Additionally, self-confidence directly correlates with an athletes performance during competition. The research included all showed signs that participants who perceived themselves with higher self-confidence performed better than those in a low competitive group. Furthermore, coaches and athletes should take focus on their perceptions of anxiety and self-confidence to improve their readiness for competition.