Browsing by Author "Seegers, A"

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    The identification and measurement of safety management systems : towards a behavioural response approach
    (1998) Scheps, Ulli; Seegers, A; Cameron, R
    This thesis presents a model for identifying, measuring and managing the risks of hazardous technologies. This paper is not targeted at any one domain, but identifies specific principles of safety management applicable to mining, manufacturing, maritime and aerospace industries. Further, the application of a principled and comprehensive programme intends to provide an effective safety culture for general industry. The model addresses safety management at three levels - senior, middle and supervisory - with the aim of identifying latent conditions and active errors in terms of accident causation. The author intends to show that human error is a consequence, not a cause, and that is shaped and provoked by upstream workplace and organisational factors. Only by understanding the context that caused the error can we hope to limit its recurrence. The thesis rejects the popular notion that "human error" is implicated in roughly eighty percent of all major accidents, and proposes that lack of guidelines at the managerial levels of organisations is responsible. This hypothesis was tested and proven at Koeberg Nuclear Power Station by the process of assigning programme elements with steering mechanisms to managers to facilitate evaluation of programme effectiveness. This programme was designed to locate, identify and track errors due to the existence of latent conditions and active failures in operational processes. Human error is thus conceptualised as a symptom. The validity of this approach was established by both qualitative and quantitative assessments. Evaluation of questionnaires clearly indicated the effectiveness of steering controls assigned to the three management levels. It confirmed that specific safety programme elements need to be assigned to managerial levels to facilitate effective behavioural response at the operational level. Significantly, the programme elements utilised provided three essential management functions to the organisation: the human, engineering and organisational management models. Scientific opinion has recognised the need to incorporate these models into management procedures. But current safety management programmes conceptually exclude the above models for lack of appropriate steering mechanisms. The author concludes therefore that the model implemented provides a practicable framework for safety management in general industry. Stressed is the function of error identification and containment in a framework of continuous evaluation of process safety.
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    The Kurds of Syria: Towards Self-Governance
    (2022) Borain, Luke; Seegers, A
    Comprehensive examinations of the self-styled Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, or AANES, are scarce not only due to the opacity of the entity's history and governance structures, but also the recency and context of its emergence as a significant actor in the Syrian civil war. This paper therefore attempts to contribute to the growing literature on the Administration, and the Syrian Kurds who are primarily responsible for its existence. Through historical and qualitative analyses, this paper describes what set of conditions facilitated the emergence of a Kurdish-led autonomous administration in northern Syria, how the unique nature of this administration's governance approach has influenced its ability to secure political and geographic security in the region, and finally, what significant factors (both regional and international) continue to either bolster its legitimacy or undermine it. What this paper finds, is that following a tumultuous history of French governance, new state formation, and years of ethnic persecution, Syrian Kurds were anxious for change. Under the pragmatic leadership of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), they were able to effect such change within the window of opportunity provided by the Arab Spring and the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, creating for themselves a de facto autonomous zone, encompassing significant territory in the north and east of the country. In the years since, through its: i) federalist approach to governance, ii) war with ISIS and the strategic partnerships this yielded, iii) clandestine arrangement with the Syrian regime, and iv) effective use of force, the PYD-led Administration has so far been able to ensure its own survival. Ultimately, the central argument offered here is that persistent aggression from Turkey in the north, a lack of formal recognition and international legitimacy, and a Syrian regime which appears increasingly capable of – in light of the ostensible easing in domestic tensions – moving to reclaim the territory it lost to the Kurds, means that the Administration's grasp on self-governance remains profoundly tenuous.
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    Working with the enemy : the military integration process in transitional South Africa and the factors that shaped a new defence force
    (2015) Turner, Gillian; Seegers, A
    Against the backdrop of South Africa's political transition from Apartheid to a democratic system of governance during the early 1990s, the South African military underwent a distinct transformation of its own. During the military's transition seven disparate forces that had previously been vying for power were integrated under one umbrella organization and re-branded as the South African National Defence Force (SANDF). Scholars and analysts generally consider this process to have been successful; it was a seminal achievement by both the negotiating parties and the Government of National Unity. Looking at the transformation process during two distinct periods, 1990 through the national elections of 1994, referred to as 'the planning phase,' and postelections through 1996, referred to as 'the implementation phase,' this study seeks a more robust and nuanced accounting of the factors that contributed to this outcome. Building upon an evaluation of the existing literature, this study also analyzes the impact that the strategies employed by the negotiating parties had upon outcomes. It offers the novel approach of analyzing the military's integration through the lens of negotiation theory rather than more conventional theoretical lenses. In doing so, this study aims not only to contribute to a common understanding of the means by which the SANDF was created and shaped, but also to broaden the scope and depth of military integration theory itself.