Transactions of the Eleventh Water Reactor Safety Research Information Meeting, to be held at National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, Maryland, October 24-28, 1983 /

Includes summaries of papers reporting on research sponsored by the office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, USNRC.

Official grain standards of the United States.

Vol. for 1956 issued as U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Miscellaneous publication no. 722; 1957- as U.S. Agricultural Marketing Service, Service and regulatory announcement no. 177.

Digital business reporting standards:mapping the battle in France

Government agencies use information technology extensively to collect business data for regulatory purposes. Data communication standards form part of the infrastructure with which businesses must conform to survive. We examine the development of, and emerging competition between, two open business reporting data standards adopted by government bodies in France; EDIFACT (incumbent) and XBRL (challenger). The research explores whether an incumbent may be displaced in a setting in which the contention is unresolved. We apply Latour’s (1992) translation map to trace the enrolments and detours in the battle. We find that regulators play an important role as allies in the development of the standards. The antecedent networks in which the standards are located embed strong beliefs that become barriers to collaboration and fuel the battle. One of the key differentiating attitudes is whether speed is more important than legitimacy. The failure of collaboration encourages competition. The newness of XBRL’s technology just as regulators need to respond to an economic crisis and its adoption by French regulators not using EDIFACT create an opportunity for the challenger to make significant network gains over the longer term. ANT also highlights the importance of the preservation of key components of EDIFACT in ebXML.

Corporate social responsibility reporting in the mining sector of Tanzania:(Lack of) government regulatory controls and NGO activism

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the ongoing debate on governance, accountability, transparency and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the mining sector of a developing country context. It examines the reporting practices of the two largest transnational gold-mining companies in Tanzania in order to draw attention to the role played by local government regulations and advocacy and campaigning by nationally organised non-governmental organisations (NGOs) with respect to promoting corporate social reporting practices. Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes a political economy perspective to consider the serious implications of the neo-liberal ideologies of the global capitalist economy, as manifested in Tanzania’s regulatory framework and in NGO activism, for the corporate disclosure, accountability and responsibility of transnational companies (TNCs). A qualitative field case study methodology is adopted to locate the largely unfamiliar issues of CSR in the Tanzanian mining sector within a more familiar literature on social accounting. Data for the case study were obtained from interviews and from analysis of documents such as annual reports, social responsibility reports, newspapers, NGO reports and other publicly available documents. Findings – Analysis of interviews, press clips and NGO reports draws attention to social and environmental problems in the Tanzanian mining sector, which are arguably linked to the manifestation of the broader crisis of neo-liberal agendas. While these issues have serious impacts on local populations in the mining areas, they often remain invisible in mining companies’ social disclosures. Increasing evidence of social and environmental ills raises serious questions about the effectiveness of the regulatory frameworks, as well as the roles played by NGOs and other pressure groups in Tanzania. Practical implications – By empowering local NGOs through educational, capacity building, technological and other support, NGOs’ advocacy, campaigning and networking with other civil society groups can play a pivotal role in encouraging corporations, especially TNCs, to adopt more socially and environmentally responsible business practices and to adhere to international and local standards, which in turn may help to improve the lives of many poor people living in developing countries in general, and Tanzania in particular. Originality/value – This paper contributes insights from gold-mining activities in Tanzania to the existing literature on CSR in the mining sector. It also contributes to political economy theory by locating CSR reporting within the socio-political and regulatory context in which mining operations take place in Tanzania. It is argued that, for CSR reporting to be effective, robust regulations and enforcement and stronger political pressure must be put in place.

Education for all : providing curriculum for students with disabilities in a standards-based environment : implications for Queensland schools

This report investigates lessons learned by educators in the United States when providing a standards-based curriculum for all students including Students with Disabilities (SWD). Assumptions about implementation of these lessons are then made to the Queensland school system. Queensland mainstream schools currently provide a standards-based curriculum for over sixteen thousand-four hundred students with mild-moderate disabilities and appear to be challenged by this new educational reform and its implications to school and teacher practices, beliefs and attitudes. The analysis of US research, literature and educational policy for this report, has provided some implications for Queensland schools in the areas of student participation, achievement and curriculum planning to provide an “education for all”. The analysis and comparison of legislation and policy, which demonstrates some significant similarities, provides greater validity for the application of lessons learned in the United States to the Queensland context. The key findings about lessons learned provides Queensland schools with some assumptions as to why and how they need to refocus school leader and teachers’ practices, beliefs and attitudes to provide an “education for all”. These lessons infer that school leaders and teachers to explicitly focus on equity, expectation, accountability, performance, alignment and collaboration so that effective curriculum is provided for SWD, indeed all students, in the Queensland standards-based curriculum environment.

Sustainability and the building code of Australia

This report is the culmination of a two-stage research project to inform the Australian property and construction industry generally, in addition to providing the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) with information to allow it to determine whether or not sustainability requirements are necessary in the Future Building Code of Australia (BCA21). The Australian Building Codes Board is a joint initiative of all levels of government in Australia. The Board’s mission is to provide for efficiency and cost effectiveness in meeting community expectations for health, safety and amenity in the design, construction and use of buildings through the creation of nationally consistent building codes, standards, regulatory requirements and regulatory systems. The Stage 1 (literature review) and Stage 2 (workshops) reports are intended to be read in conjunction with one another. These reports and the Database are provided as appendices. The Conclusions of this, the final report, are the result of the overall program of work.

Harmonisation of OH&S regulations

Policy instruments of education, regulation, fines and inspection have all been utilised by Australian jurisdictions as they attempt to improve the poor performance of occupational health and safety (OH&S) in the construction industry. However, such policy frameworks have been largely uncoordinated across Australia, resulting in differing policy systems, with differing requirements and compliance systems. Such complexity, particularly for construction firms operating across jurisdictional borders, led to various attempts to improve the consistency of OH&S regulation across Australia, four of which will be reviewed in this report. 1. The first is the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1991 (Commonwealth) which enabled certain organisations to opt out of state based regulatory regimes. 2. The second is the development of national standards, codes of practice and guidance documents by the National Occupational Health and Safety Council (NOHSC). The intent was that the OHS requirements, principles and practices contained in these documents would be adopted by state and territory governments into their legislation and policy, thereby promoting regulatory consistency across Australia. 3. The third is the attachment of conditions to special purpose payments from the Commonwealth to the States, in the form of OH&S accreditation with the Office of the Federal Safety Commissioner. 4. The fourth is the development of national voluntary codes of OHS practice for the construction industry. It is interesting to note that the tempo of change has increased significantly since 2003, with the release of the findings of the Cole Royal Commission. This paper examines and evaluates each of these attempts to promote consistency across Australia. It concludes that while there is a high level of information sharing between jurisdictions, particularly from the NOSHC standards, a fragmented OH&S policy framework still remains in place across Australia. The utility of emergent industry initiatives such as voluntary codes and guidelines for safer construction practices to enhance consistency are discussed.

Enforcing minimum labour standards in Australia from 2010 : correcting or compounding problems

Fair Work Australia is to provide the institutional framework for the Australian industrial relations system from January 2010. Its creation provides the opportunity to improve minimum labour standards��� enforcement in Australia. However, the experience of the past must be appreciated and traditional assumptions about the operation of the Australian enforcement system discarded if the new institution is to be effective in its role. This paper focuses on the role of unions in enforcement as well as institutional location issues to expose a number of central enforcement problems that those seeking to establish new systems and processes should consider. A number of recommendations in respect of the structure of Fair Work Australia and the continuing role of unions are suggested.