Suchergebnisse

Today, more regulatory provisions are in place for protecting low‐income minority populations who shoulder a disproportionate amount of environmental risk. Recognized as communities of "environmental justice," industrial facilities located within these areas bear greater legal liabilities for and societal scrutiny of their environmental impacts. The authors offer compelling evidence that, in an effort to avoid regulatory and societal claims that they are disproportionately harming minority and ethnic populations, businesses operating inside environmental justice communities tend to adopt an environmental management system (EMS). The article probes whether industries actually improve the environment as a consequence of EMS adoption or whether such systems are simply used to avoid greater governmental scrutiny without necessarily reducing overall environmental risks.

An exploratory survey of Australian organisations that operate fleets of heavy freight vehicles was undertaken to identify differences in management characteristics between those that have good safety records compared with those that have poorer safety records, using vehicle insurance claim rates as a proxy for safety. Fifty organisations that operate heavy vehicles and had either low or higher recent claim rates completed a questionnaire. These included various industry sectors, such as local government councils, utility companies, and freight transport companies. The questionnaire asked about the participants' use of a wide range of safety management practices relevant to heavy vehicle drivers. The results showed that despite controlling for fleet size, companies with larger fleets had poorer claim rates. The results also suggested that higher claimers relied more on setting criteria and rules for vehicles and drivers, than low claimers. Low claimers seemed to focus more strongly on proactive risk assessment, and that drivers are paid for time worked and consulted on safety issues. A number of the findings were counterintuitive. For example, higher claimers more often than low claimers reported that they did more checking during recruitment, had more policies and some accreditation as well as doing more in-vehicle monitoring. The study showed that there are safety management characteristics that distinguish between good and poorer safety performers but that further research must assess both the use and quality of the safety management practices implemented. © 2014.

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Food and Nutrition Service's (FNS) new rule on the Food Stamp Program's recipient claim establishment and collection standards. GAO noted that: (1) the final rule aims to improve claims management in the Food Stamp Program while providing state agencies increased flexibility in their efforts to increase claims collection; (2) the final rule incorporates changes mandated by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 and includes federal debt management regulations and statutory revisions into recipient claim management; and (3) FNS complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule."

In 1976, Inuit leaders in what is now Nunavut began the long process that led to a comprehensive land claim to regain control of their lives and land. Previously, they had seen their economic, social, political, educational, and belief systems diminished and the people disempowered by the imposition of Western systems, structures, and practices. To reverse the existing relations, Inuit leaders had to call upon the ideologies and institutions of the dominant society—a process greatly misunderstood by Inuit harvesters and others within the communities. The disconnect between Inuit harvesters' expectations of the Nunavut Land Claim Agreement (NLCA) and the realities experienced in the communities have made ocean resource management a site of growing resistance in the North. Common misconceptions were that the Nunavut Government would be an Inuit government and that land-claim "compensation" would involve per capita distributions and injections of cash into the hunters and trappers' organizations. Instead, communities were expected to abide by the decisions of the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board—a tripartite joint-management arrangement between the federal and territorial governments and Inuit organizations—and to cooperate with the increasing demands from government departments and science researchers for local information and participation. The community response to these impositions was to obscure the gaze of inquiring governments and outsiders through creative acts of resistance. To mediate the situation, increased involvement from federal and territorial resource managers in terms of support, capacity building, information exchange, and federal/territorial/community relationship building is encouraged. ; En 1976, les leaders inuits de la région qui s'appelle maintenant le Nunavut ont amorcé ce long processus qui les a menés à une revendication territoriale d'envergure pour reprendre leurs vies et leurs terres en mains. Avant cela, leurs systèmes économique, social, politique et scolaire de même que leur système de croyances avaient été diminués au point où le peuple se sentait affaibli par l'imposition de pratiques, de structures et de systèmes occidentaux. Pour renverser les relations qui existaient à ce moment-là, les leaders inuits ont dû faire appel aux idéologies et aux institutions de la société dominante — un processus que les Inuits qui récoltent les ressources et d'autres membres de la collectivité ont eu bien du mal à comprendre. En raison de la différence entre les attentes des Inuits qui récoltent les ressources à l'égard de l'Accord sur les revendications territoriales du Nunavut (ARTN) et les réalités vécues dans les collectivités, la gestion des ressources océaniques est devenue un enjeu de plus en plus important dans le Nord. Parmi les idées fausses véhiculées, notons le fait que le gouvernement du Nunavut aurait été un gouvernement inuit et que la « compensation » au titre des revendications territoriales aurait pris la forme de distributions par habitant et d'injections de capital destinées aux organismes de chasse et de pêche. À la place, les collectivités ont été obligées d'obéir aux décisions du Conseil de gestion des ressources fauniques du Nunavut — un groupe de gestion tripartite composé des gouvernements fédéral et territorial de même que d'organismes inuits — et de faire preuve de coopération vis-à-vis des exigences croissantes de divers ministères et chercheurs scientifiques en quête d'information et de participation dans la région. La réaction de la collectivité à l'égard de ces impositions a consisté à embrouiller l'insistance des gouvernements et d'autres parties en organisant des actes de résistance créatifs. Afin d'arbitrer la situation, on encourage une plus grande participation de la part des gestionnaires fédéraux et territoriaux de ressources en matière de soutien, de renforcement des capacités, d'échange de l'information et de formation de relations entre le secteur fédéral, le secteur territorial et le secteur communautaire.