Equal Opportunities policy in UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Equal Opportunities policy in UK - Essay Example The policy covers all aspects of employment, from vacancy advertising, selection recruitment and training to conditions of service and reasons for termination of employment. In order to ensure the effective operation of the policy the company/ organisation/firm/practice/etc maintains records of employees' and applicants' racial origins, gender and disability. The company's/organisation's/firm's/practice/etc long term aim is that the composition of our workforce should reflect that of the community. Timetabled targets will be set for groups in the community that are identified as being underrepresented in the workforce. Where necessary, special steps, as permitted by the relevant Acts of Parliament, will be taken to help disadvantaged and/or underrepresented groups to compete for jobs on a genuine basis of equality. The company's/ organisation's/firm's/practice/etc Equal Opportunity Employment Policy (EOEP), and the measures to implement it, have been devised on the basis of advice from the relevant bodies as well as in consultation with appropriate union and/or employee representatives. The director of personnel/managing director/senior partner/etc, is responsible for the effective operation of the company's/ org... The director of personnel/managing director/senior partner/etc, is responsible for the effective operation of the company's/ organisation's/firm's/practice/etc EOEP. A copy of the EOEP is available from the personnel department/managing director/senior partner/etc (2005). Marshall stated that "The equal opportunities culture in mid-1990's has been one that has tended to have a narrow focus, and to fuse social justice issues with performance standards and improvement, with a greater emphasis on the latter." According to Chmiel the UK legislation does not extend to gay or lesbian workers and it provides only a framework to be adhered to thus the companies may adhere to and comply to the legislation loosely. "The basic premise of equal opportunities is that talent and ability are spread equally through all groups, including men and women, all able bodied and disabled people, and all ethnic groupings." As per the survey conducted by Honey, Meager and Williams in 1993 only one out of 20 organisations approached the legal quota of disabled employees. Discrimination was reported by 22 percent gay and lesbians when applying for jobs, 24 percent in promotions and about 50 percent due to their sexuality (1999). Chmiel further stated that women recruited and promoted under the programme Opportunity 2000 carried a 'Stigma of Incompetence', experienced lower self confidence and backlash from other members in the organisation (1999). Survey results published by Cara Aitchison stated that it was difficult to identify discrimination in recruitment, selection and promotion situations since many reasons could be effectively used as smoke screens, but discrimination occurs in day to day life such as indifferent attitudes

Dangers of wooden trusses to firefighters Research Paper

Dangers of wooden trusses to firefighters - Research Paper Example Fire-fighters risk their lives when putting off fires in buildings that have wooden trusses. This paper will discuss the dangers of wooden trusses to fire fighters. The paper will explore the various risks involved in putting off fires in buildings that have wooden trusses. The dangers of wooden trusses to fire-fighters There are a number of dangers that wooden trusses pose to fire-fighters; these dangers may be  experienced when the fire-fighters make attempts to put-off large fires. A notable danger that wooden trusses pose to fire-fighters is that they can trap the fire-fighters. In such cases, the fire-fighters find it difficult to leave the building. As a result, a rescue operation has to be initiated in order to find the fire-fighters and save them from the building where they may be trapped. Fire-fighters who manage to escape from a building that collapses may suffer numerous injuries, which may last for a lifetime or lead to significant impairment (Pollio, 2012). It is wort h noting that wooden trusses may not pose any risks to the people who occupy buildings. However, these trusses exhibit some form of weakness when there is fire, and they become extremely weak. When there is fire, there tends to be high temperatures that may cause damages to the truss (Pollio, 2012). Since the trusses are held together using fasteners, the high temperatures may weaken the fasteners, thus leading to the failure of the entire truss that may be damaged by the weight of the building. The trusses may fall on the fire-fighters while in their attempts to put off the fire (Dunn, 2010). Some of the features of wooden trusses raise critical concerns regarding the safety of fire-fighters. Wooden trusses tend to expose much of their surface to fire as compared to trusses made of metal. Since the wooden trusses comprise of less mass, there is a possibility that fire will consume them quickly. Moreover, wooden trusses also lose their capacity to carry loads whenever there is a fir e. This also affects the metal plates that may be holding the trusses together. Therefore, wooden trusses can easily collapse when there is a fire, thus putting the lives of fire-fighters at risk. Wooden trusses also pose immense dangers to fire-fighters since they spread fire a fast rate. When one wooden truss catches fire, there is a high probability that the fire will spread to the other trusses very fast. Thus, the spread of fire in the entire building will also be extremely fast, which means that fire-fighters may lose their lives while putting off fires (Brannigan & Corbett, 2007). The future of the materials used or change in fire-fighting tactics In the future, there should be a change in the materials used in constructing