Terms Of Company Size Research Articles

Significant industry?source of injury?accident type for occupational fatalities in Taiwan

Spearman's rank correlation, Cramer's V and Phi coefficients were applied to the analysis of 784 work-related single fatalities that occurred in 1999 and 2000. The Phi coefficients were used to screen for significant accident scenarios in terms of industry, source of injury and accident type, and high-risk groups in terms of company size, worker's experience and industry group combinations. Significant accident scenarios identified included: fatalities from falls caused by structure and construction facility in the construction industry; caught in between and clamped fatalities caused by loading and unloading machinery, and power machinery in the manufacturing industry; explosion and contacting hazardous materials and extreme temperature fatalities caused by materials and supplies in the manufacturing industry; struck by and against fatalities caused by loading and unloading machinery in the transport, storage and communication industry; and drowning fatalities caused by environment in the farming and fishing industry. High-risk groups identified were construction workers with less than 1 year of experience who were employed by small companies with less than 30 workers; and manufacturing workers with 1–15 years of experience who were employed by large companies with more than 30 workers. Significant accident scenarios and high-risk groups were identified based on the analysis of 784 work-related single fatalities. These results provided a direction for in-depth scenario analysis and for more effective inspection strategies which may reduce both accident frequency and severity.

Market entry methods for western firms in China

The UK continues to be one of Europe’s leading investors in China. Many companies have chosen the international joint venture (IJV) option as their market entry method. However, in 2000, the growth of wholly foreignowned enterprises (WFOEs) exceeded that of JVs for the first time. Could it be that IJVs are on their way out as amarket entry method for British firms in China? This article reports on a qualitative study of business relationships between British and Chinese firms designed to examine the comparative advantages and disadvantages of IJVs and WFOEs. Case study companies came from a variety of industries and varied in terms of company size. The evidence from the case studies suggests that the preference for an IJV or a WFOE as amarket entry method depends on a number of key factors including company size, experience in China, type of industry, and conditions in the macro‐environment.

Learning curve analysis in total productive maintenance

The continuous improvement concepts such as total quality management, just-in-time and total productive maintenance have been widely recognized as a strategic weapon and successfully implemented in many organizations. In this paper, we focus on the application of total productive maintenance (TPM). A random effect non-linear regression model called the Time Constant Model was used to formulate a prediction model for the learning rate in terms of company size, sales, ISO 9000 certification and TPM award year. A two-stage analysis was employed to estimate the parameters. Using the approach of this study, one can determine the appropriate time for checking the performance of implementing total productive maintenance. By comparing the expected overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), one can improve the maintenance policy and monitor the progress of OEE.

Comparisons of variables between fatal and nonfatal accidents in manufacturing industry

This study concerns with the comparisons of variables between fatal and nonfatal accidents in Korean manufacturing industries. The national industrial accident statistics for the years 1991–1994 were extracted from the annual publications of Ministry of Labor. These data were used to compare the distributions of fatal and nonfatal injuries in terms of company size, injured person's age, work experience, accident time, activity at time of accident, accident type, injury type, injured body part, and accident agency. Results show that the distributions of the fatal injuries are statistically different from those of the nonfatal injuries: (1) nonfatal injuries occur more frequently in the younger workers, while deaths occur more frequently in the older workers; (2) the proportion of death occurring in night shift is greater than that of nonfatal injuries; (3) `caught in and between objects' is the most common type of accident, but the second common type of accident is `awkward or sudden movement' in the nonfatal injuries, instead of `falls from a height' in deaths; and (4) `fracture' is the leading caused injury and death, but the second leading type of injury is `contusion or bruise' in the nonfatal injuries and `cerebral concussion' in deaths. Relevance to industry Strategies for accident prevention should be in reasonable agreement with significant variables of occupational accidents. These results can be used to develop more effective accidental occupational death and injury prevention programs for manufacturing industry.

Comprehensive health evaluation of workers in the ceramics industry.

A cross sectional study on ceramics workers in the Seto area of Japan was conducted to determine whether there are differences in the morbidity pattern and overall health among the working populations employed by different sized companies engaged in the ceramics industry. The study population consisted of 3324 male ceramics workers (age range 40-69) who participated in the Seto occupational health screening programme in 1990. The prevalences of pulmonary diseases (silicosis and tuberculosis) and findings of some nonpulmonary diseases were compared in terms of company size by categories of 1-19, 20-49, 50-99, and 100 or more employees. The values of various screening tests were subjected to principle component analysis to extract factors representing key indices of health state. The average factor scores stratified by company size were used to quantitatively evaluate the comprehensive health level. Both prevalence and multivariate analysis showed that the employees working for smaller companies had overall worse health. The smaller the company, the higher the prevalence and the lower the health scores for silicosis and pulmonary tuberculosis tended to be; significantly increased rates and lower health scores for hypertension, anaemia, and glucosuria among small companies were also found when compared with larger companies. The high morbidity of silicosis and pulmonary tuberculosis in smaller companies contributed most to the decline in the overall health level.

The Japanese PCB Industry

The Japanese PCB industry is in many ways comparable with the industry in the UK and yet is achieving higher levels of output and taking a somewhat different route in technology. This paper examines the structure of the industry in terms of company size and number, looks at the level and nature of investment and goes on to examine technologies being used and results being achieved.