Open Journal Systems at the Victoria University of Wellington Library
Not a member yet
6045 research outputs found
Sort by
Can We Have the Population Statistics We Need Without a Regular Census? Time to engage with statisticians
Get PDFAs the New Zealand government is progressing plans for substituting the census as we know it for information held in state agency records, the huge gap between what we need population statistics for, and the scope and quality of existing statistics stays under the radar. The scale and volatility of migration, the impact of increased longevity and the different demographic dynamics of fast-growing ethnic communities must be continually measured in ways we can trust. Confidence that the statistical qualities of the census would be replicated requires transparency, validation and independent peer review if trust is to be maintained
Reviving the Proposal For a Parliamentary Budget Officer
Get PDFThe 2019 proposal that New Zealand create a parliamentary budget officer should be revived, but with certain changes. First, the parliamentary budget officer should not be asked to estimate the cost of political parties’ electoral platforms, since that is not a proper function of an officer of Parliament, and the political sensitivity and resource intensiveness of such costings could interfere with the officer’s ability to help Parliament hold the executive to account. Second, the parliamentary budget officer should have a broader scope to comment on public finances than was envisaged in 2019. Third, the creation of a parliamentary budget officer should be accompanied by consideration of other ways of strengthening Parliament’s effectiveness in scrutinising public finances, such as having a member of the opposition chair the Finance and Expenditure Committee
Integrating management systems in the energy sector: the case of the electricity industry in New Zealand
Get PDFThe New Zealand Electricity Engineers Association (EEA) asked for advice about development of a guide for a public safety management system (PSMS) for electricity distribution networks based on ISO45001 Occupational health and safety management systems. This would help eliminate overlap between legislation and standards while maintaining compliance with legal requirements. At Victoria University of Wellington we have been working on such an integrated approach and this article reports on the project and suggests how the results can be extended to include other areas of management while retaining the ability for appropriate elements to be audited and certified in accordance with systems required by legislation.
The project reviewed an earlier report and literature review on PSMS for the Electricity Networks Association. Development of the legal requirements for a PSMS were reviewed and use of the International Standards Organization (ISO) framework for all management system standards proposed to encompass ISO45001 and similar standards. Relevant management content was incorporated in the high-level structure and key stakeholders contributed technical content.
Use of the ISO Annex SL as a template enabled development of an integrated management system incorporating other management system standards, that would still support legal compliance while enabling elimination of duplication and clutter, and waste of resources at a time of technology change.
The work was carried out in New Zealand (NZ) and may not apply in other countries with different legal requirements. Auditors may resist integrated management systems although this may not be a limitation if documentation is appropriately written.
The electricity networks businesses in NZ may move to implementation of the PSMS guide but this will be an internal decision and results may take some years to declutter documentation and reduce overlapping audits under management system standards.
Over the next decade the context of the New Zealand electricity industry will undergo major shifts with the need to adapt to increasing expectations for occupational health and safety and public safety, adaptation to climate change and accelerated implementation of new technologies. The electricity industry will need to apply its resources to those changes while avoiding duplicated efforts to implement multiple management systems.
Developing an integrated management system that incorporates several management systems and public safety may aid protection of non-workers who cannot otherwise be “controlled” by a business
From the Journal Editor
Get PDFHaere mai! Welcome to volume 1, edition 1 of the New Zealand Journal of Health and Safety Practice!
The Journal is open access and online and subscriptions are free. Although published in New Zealand we hope it will be read by workers everywhere who work in the field of health, safety and wellbeing. This edition is published at the time of International Workers' Memorial Day and the 29th anniversary of the New Zealand Cave Creek tragedy. I hope the Journal will grow to share practical, research-based knowledge that will help every worker (and visitors to workplaces) to go home physically and mentally unharmed.
Much work went into the development of the Journal and I thank:
the authors who spent time writing and revising the articles
our anonymous reviewers who spent their time reading the submissions and making comments: you have helped set the standard for the Journal.
Nik Crombie and Max Sullivan in the Victoria University of Wellington Library who helped with the backroom work and technology making the Journal free to publish.
The editorial team also thanks HASANZ, Engineering New Zealand, Faculty of Asbestos Management of Australia & New Zealand, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of New Zealand, Institute of Organisational Psychology, New Zealand Institute of Safety Management, New Zealand Occupational Health Nurses Association, New Zealand Occupational Hygiene Society, New Zealand Safety Council, AVID Plus Limited and Risk Management Ltd for financial and other support to help establish the Journal.
Terje Aven, a Norwegian academic, wrote that “safety science is multidisciplinary. Its contributors and its audience range from psychologists to chemical engineers”; that safety science “covers the physics and engineering of safety; its social, policy and organisational aspects; the management of risks; the effectiveness of control techniques for safety; standardization, legislation, inspection, insurance, costing aspects, human behaviour and safety and the like.” The founding organisations of NZJHSP are similarly drawn from those disciplines.
A call for papers for the July 2024 edition will go out shortly. I look forward to submissions for future editions of this Journal those focused on the practice of workplace health and safety through implementing the broad subject area of safety science to help protect workers and others and achieve good work conditions.
References
Aven, T. (2014). What is safety science? Safety Science, 67, 15-20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2013.07.02
The impact on NZ university academic staffing over the pandemic years
Get PDFThe New Zealand Association of Scientists (NZAS) sought information from all eight New Zealand (NZ) universities via Official Information Act (OIA) requests. The requests were for academic staff numbers on 1st May 2019 and 1st May 2023, capturing data before and after Covid-19 lockdowns. We requested numbers for permanent, fixed-term and casual academic staff for each faculty onthose dates with a breakdown of men, women and gender unknown/diverse. The aim was to look for impacts over this period on staff numbers in the sciences and how staff in different types of employment and gender were affected, but we also compared this data to other subject areas taught and researched at NZ universities.
Since May 2023 there have been several additional tranches of layoffs at multiple universities which will not be captured in the data we present here. However, while it is arguable whether these new layoffs are due to the impacts of the COVID19 pandemic and subsequent global financial turmoil, we can see that certain subject areas ofacademia have already felt the effects in May 2023. Health faculties fared the best over the period, which might reflect the need for health research and development of the health workforce during a global pandemic. However, these gains were accompanied by large losses in humanities, education, and arts, as well as other subject areas such as fundamental sciences and engineering
Zig-zags, maples, and "[t]he pitfalls of façade first design": inside University House on Bowen Street, Wellington
No full textThis paper examines the design origins and interior of the now demolished University House (Prouse and Wilson, 1940‐41), also known as the University Senate Building and the University Grants Committee Building
Understanding Corporate Purpose: Bringing Clarity to Corporate Purpose, Success and Law
Get PDFWe have misconceived the nature of the fundamental driver of a business, namely its profit. We do not account for its "true costs" and therefore do not report its "fair profits". Categorising this as a market failure arising from "externalities" has resulted in wrong policy prescriptions regarding competition and regulation to address the problem. Instead, we should recognise it as a failure to define the purpose of a business appropriately.
Corporate law and corporate governance standards should establish that a profit derives from solving, not creating, problems for others. This is not a stakeholder theory of the firm. It retains the notion of "shareholder primacy" in corporate law, with the duties of directors remaining solely to their shareholders, but in the context of the success of the corporation deriving from profit without harm.
The difference between the United Kingdom's Companies Act 2006 and recent proposed changes to New Zealand's Companies Act 1993 illustrates the reasons why broadening objectives of firms beyond shareholders to other stakeholders does not provide an appropriate resolution of the problem of internalising externalities.
As Adam Smith noted in The Wealth of Nations, inclusion of profit without harm in law is central to freedom of choice of corporate purpose, the functioning of markets, the effects of competition and the ability of firms that incur their true costs to compete against those that do not
IFRS in Africa: Driving factors and consequences of adoption
Get PDFPurpose: This paper explores accounting practices in Africa by examining the driving factors and stock market consequences of IFRS adoption.
Methodology: Regression analysis was undertaken to identify the role of national governance factors and Foreign Direct Investment on IFRS adoption in Africa, as well as the impact of adoption on the market capitalization of public stock exchanges, considering the different extents of adoption.
Findings: The findings are consistent with a neo-institutionalist framework. Jurisdictions that receive more FDI are more likely to be stronger adopters of IFRS. Jurisdictions with a stronger rule of law are more likely to be strong adopters of IFRS. There is also evidence of IFRS used as a corruption control technique, as more corrupt countries adopt IFRS. IFRS adoption is correlated with increased market capitalisation.
Implications: The findings of this research contribute to the body of research into IFRS convergence. The findings are relevant for policymakers and regulators across Africa.
Originality / Research value: There is limited research into IFRS adoption across Africa, proving this research valuable
Zombie Ideas: Policy pendulum and the challenge of effective policymaking
Get PDFIdeas are important as a foundation for public policy, but they can also become ‘zombie ideas’ which survive even though they have been proven to be ineffective. Both the political right and the political left have their own zombie ideas, and when there is a change in government old ideas may return. This article presents the concept of zombie ideas and discusses its relevance for policy in New Zealand
How do New Zealand Scientists perceive the benefits and limitation of Citizen Science?
No full textPublic engagement with science in New Zealand adopted a more participatory approach with the 2014 launch of the Strategic Plan for Science in Society, joining the groundswell of citizen science research seen internationally. This study interrogates the views of scientists on the benefits and limitations of citizen science (CS) before and several years after the strategy was launched. Three groups of scientists were compared: NZ marine scientists with an international group of marine scientists around the time of launch, and NZ marine scientists four years later. At initial comparison NZ and international scientists held largely similar views on the benefits and limitations of CS, with only a few exceptions. Awareness of and involvement in CS projects were significantly higher in NZ four years later. Scientists with CS experience generally perceived more benefits, such as expanded data collection, community engagement and public awareness of science. The most frequently identified limitation was quality of data. Although this perception increased in the NZ cohort, the vast majority of scientists felt limitations could be overcome by careful project design and improved infrastructure support and professional recognition. These findings guide further recommendations for high level support systems to facilitate scientists’ involvement in citizen science
Access Repository Dashboard
Do you manage Open Journal Systems at the Victoria University of Wellington Library? Access insider analytics, issue reports and manage access to outputs from your repository in the CORE Repository Dashboard!