1.1 Introduction
Health and safety management systems for University students are essential in all spheres of society and in all types of institutions. Academic institutions must adhere to strict guidelines for health and safety management in order to preserve a secure learning environment and fulfill their duty of care to students who will be joining the workforce in the future (HSA, 2023). The task of providing advice and keeping an eye on health and safety-related matters falls to a health and safety committee. The primary duties of the Institute's safety officer include communicating with various statutory bodies, revising the Institute's health and safety statement to comply with health and safety laws, and counseling pertinent staff on continuing health and safety issues. The Safety Statement outlines how health and safety management responsibilities are integrated into the normal operations of the school council of affairs, institute executive, and general management teams in order for the safety management system to be effective.
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Limitation of the study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
School health and safety management systems have helped institutions lower the likelihood of mishaps, injuries, and near misses over time (Vinodkumar and Bhasi, 2010). Workers continue to suffer millions of injuries and fatalities worldwide, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO, 2018). To improve occupational health and safety performance, however, as well as to lower the frequency of workplace accidents and injuries, a variety of safety management techniques are employed (Hanafi et al., 2018; Lee, 2018). The poor conceptualization for safety management practices and interchangeable terms compel for development of a holistic framework that encompasses different aspects of safety management practices (Autenrieth et al., 2016).
In the past ten years, beliefs pertaining to school health and safety have undergone significant change, giving rise to a variety of safety management techniques (Zohar, 2000). A single framework for safety management procedures and occupational health and safety performance has not yet been successfully established. To lower the likelihood of accidents, management in risky businesses, such as the oil and gas and construction industries, must implement a safety management strategy (Amponsah-Tawaih and Adu, 2016). However, the scope of studies (Hanafi et al., 2018; Lee, 2018; Liu et al., 2020; Vinodkumar and Bhasi,2010; Vredenburgh, 2002) was limited to only safety management practices at the strategic level of the organization.
The upkeep of all Institute buildings and accommodations, including all firefighting and fire prevention equipment, falls under the direct jurisdiction of the school administration. All requests for staff training must be co-ordinated by the Institute Executive and the Human Resource Manager. The task of providing advice and keeping an eye on health and safety-related matters falls to a health and safety committee.
The primary duties of the Institute's safety officer include communicating with various statutory bodies, revising the Institute's health and safety statement to comply with health and safety laws, and counseling pertinent staff on continuing health and safety issues. The administrative staff, who are responsible for regularly reviewing safety standards in their departments or areas and providing advice on any safety concerns, assist the safety officer in carrying out their duties.
The challenges encountered that led to the execution of the research work is that, the existing system manual calculations are error prone and take a lot of time this may result in incorrect information. Also, preparation of accurate and prompt reports is a difficult task as information is difficult to collect from various register.
It is against the background that the developments of the proposed system will be beneficial to both the management and staffs within an academic institution establishment as it makes school management easier. Also, the proposed system will enable the management to know the total number of students and the payment made by students as the software will keep tracks of all the clients’ transactions with the school medical centre.
1.3 Statement of Problem
Investigation revealed that several problems were found when evaluating the current system, and these problems include:
- Lack of Immediate Retrievals: The information is very difficult to retrieve and to find particular information.
- Lack of Immediate Information Storage: The information generated by various transactions takes time and efforts to be stored at right place
- Lack of Prompt Updating: Various changes to information like students safety details are difficult to make as paper work is involved.
- Error Prone Manual Calculation: Manual calculations are error prone and take a lot of time this may result in incorrect information, for example calculation of student’s bill based on various treatments.
- Preparation of Accurate and Prompt Reports: This becomes a difficult task as information is difficult to collect from various register.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of the Study
The aim of the study is to design and implement a Computerized Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) Application for Universities. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows to develop an application software that will:
- Query and Retrieve specific information from the health, safety, and environment database;
- Capture and store student’s health data for Universities;
- Provide safety measures for students in university environment; and
- Facilitate the immediate release and storage of information generated by various transactions.
1.5 Significance of Study
The implementation of the proposed system will be beneficial to both the management and staffs within an academic institution establishment as it makes school management easier. It will also enable the management to know the total number of students and the payment made by students as the software will keep tracks of all the clients’ transactions with the school medical centre.
Furthermore, it will ensure that students are attended on time and a how a student can get registered first, before the proper bill process.
Finally, this research will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.
1.6 Scope of Study
The scope of the research is focused on the Design and Implementation of a Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) Application for Universities using Imo State University (IMSU), Owerri as a case study.
1.7 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Research Material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet).
1.8 Definition of Terms
Administration:
An administration is the act of giving a drug to somebody or a patient. (for example the administration of antibiotics).
Information:
Information is used to tell someone that they are wrong about something.
Registration:
This means to keep records received from the management for reference purposes.
Management:
It is the co-ordination of all the resources of an Organization through the process of planning, Organization, directing and controlling
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