The Level of Employee Engagement and Organisational Performance in the Dissertation

The Level of Employee Engagement and Organisational Performance in the Nigerian Public Secto - Dissertation Example And if yes, then how does employees’ engagement relate to employees’ performance, i.e. positively or negatively? This study aims at investigating the relationship between employee engagement and organizational performance with particular reference to the Nigerian Public Sector, i.e. Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and National Information Technology Development. In order to conduct this study, the researcher made use of primary research and obtained information related to employees’ engagement level and Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and NITDA’s performance through survey questionnaire and interviews. The researcher selected 150 respondents for survey and interviewed 10 managers. The results obtained in this study show that there is a positive relationship between employees’ engagement and organizational performance. Moreover, it has also been concluded that the employees working in Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and NITDA are highly engaged and t his high level of employee engagement has translated into improved organizational performance. Keywords: Employee Engagement, Organizational Performance, Motivation, etc. ... harts - Descriptive Findings 46 Figure 2: Scatter plot - Regression Analysis 48 List of Tables Table 1: Descriptive Findings – Demographics Attributes 36 Table 2: Descriptive Findings – Statements Related to Employee Engagement 39 Table 3: Descriptive Findings – Statements Related to Employee Engagement 42 Table 4: Findings from Regression Analysis 47 Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1. Background to the Context The term ‘employee engagement’ can be argued to be a comparatively new in managerial practices, as it emerged in the last decade (Bhatia, 2011). The concept of employee engagement can be elaborated as the degree of employees’ commitment towards attainment of organizational goals and objectives. Engagement of employees can also be regarded as the sense of responsibility developed in employees in relation to their contribution and performance for overall betterment of organization (Schaufeli & Solanova, 2007; Exec, 2007). In the fast changing co rporate world of today, it is strongly felt by the organizations that employees are their assets and it is due to this reason that organizations in general and management in particular have started give importance to the concept of employee engagement (Bhatia, 2011; Adi, 2012). However, the question arises whether employees’ engagement has something to do with the performance level of employees? And if yes, then how does employees’ engagement relate to employees’ performance, i.e. positively or negatively? This study thus attempts to explore this relationship between these two aspects of employees’ behavior in organizational context. 1.2. Research Aim This study aims at investigating the relationship between employee engagement and organizational performance with particular reference to the Nigerian Public

United Kingdom and the Eurozone

United Kingdom and the Eurozone DEFINITION OF CURRENCY UNION In the world today, systems in which countries come together in agreement of sharing single money. The system is called currency or monetary union, its importance and number of participants is growing. In May 2005, 52 out of 184 IMF members participated in currency unions (Rose, 2006). A currency union can be defined as a system where two or more groups usually countries share a common or single currency in order to keep the value of their currency at a certain level (Investopedia, 2015). It can also be defined as an agreement among member’s countries or other jurisdictions to share a common currency, and a single foreign and monetary exchange policy (Rosa, 2004). Currency unions occur when a poor country unilaterally adopts the money of a larger â€Å"anchor† country. For Example, a number of countries currently use the American dollar such as Panama, Ecuador, and a number of smaller countries and dependencies in the Caribbean and Pacific (Rose, 2006). In Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho and Namibia all use the South African Rand thereby forming a currency union (Multilateral monetary area). In these cases, the exchange and interest rates of dependent countries are influenced and determined by the anchor country, generally in the interest of the anchor. There are a number of multilateral currency unions between countries of similar size and wealth such as the East Caribbean dollar: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint vincent and the Grenadines and Saint Lucia. The Central Bank of the West African of the CFA franc: Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo and also the Bank of the Central African States. Other currency unions in the world are the monetary authority Singapore, eastern Caribbean currency union, multilateral monetary area etc. The largest currency union is the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union which began on the 1st January 1999, although the euro was only physically introduced three years later. Twelve countries instituted the euro as a legal tender, delegating and determining monetary policy for EMU to through the international European central bank. One of the reasons of forming a currency union is mainly to synchronize and manage each member countrys monetary policy which could be done through lowering of transaction costs of cross-border trade (Silva and Tenreyro, 2010) The union is expected to grow more with Cyprus, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia recently joining the area and other states such as Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City unilaterally adopting the euro as their sole currency however, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark and the United Kingdom have rejected membership but maintained debates on the advisability of adopting the euro particularly after the onset of the global financial crisis (Carney, 2014). Currency unions have no definite size therefore there is no appropriate domain for a currency. The use of a single or common currency is advantageous to regions as well as can also cause problems in the dual presence of asymmetric shocks and nominal rigidities (in prices and wages) (Mundell, 1961). The effect of the size on currency union tend to create more open and fewer nominal rigidities for smaller countries making them better candidates for currency unions (Mckinnon, 1963). The effects of the economys degree of diversification could result in fewer asymmetric shocks and accordingly fewer benefits from national monetary policy. The insights of the theory of optimum currency areas provided by Mundell (1961) concluded that common currency areas are defined by internal mobility and external immobility of factors of production. According to this theory, the optimum size of currency area depends on the tradeoff between the macroeconomic efficiency gains and micro-economic costs. The forming currency unions have its costs as well as benefits. THE COSTS Generally, the main cost of joining a currency union is the loss of an independent monetary policy with the inability to react to shocks through exchange rate adjustments. Monetary independence can be beneficial when shocks are regionally specific, alternative mechanisms are weak and when exchange rate changes function as means of lightening idiosyncratic shocks Countries that could potentially let their exchange rates adjust to justify the impact of shocks often display fear of floating and thus do not exploit the automatic stabilization properties of exchange rates (Calvo and Reinhart, 2002). Countries reluctance to implement monetary policy to tackle shocks could be linked to its actual effectiveness; less effectiveness of monetary policies to facilitate the adjustment or possibly wider consideration such as fear that it may trigger beggar thy-neighbor responses by trading partners inducing structural volatility in the financial markets. Besides the absence of price adjustment mechanisms, output stabilization and currency revaluation in the currency union faces another challenge. A system of income transfers is necessary for softening negative asymmetric shocks in countries that have joined a currency union however; the prospect of income transfers between countries generates the type of moral hazard commonly seen in insurance models (Grabner, 2003). Another cost of currency unions relate to overcoming structural differences among the countries. The transition towards a monetary union is likely to expose structural weaknesses (Jacquet 1998 and Grabner 2003). By entering a monetary union, countries lose the ability to correct their monetary troubles in short term. The necessary structural reform preceding the acceptances of a single currency focus on issues like taxation, supervision of capital markets and also mutual recognition and harmonization of labor markets (Jacquet 1998). There is also an issue of fiscal financing. Public budget can be financed from government bonds and tax revenues. A country in a currency union is likely to face constraints on financing options resulting in a suboptimal situation. At the same time, government bonds are linked to inflation and a currency union implicitly assumes convergent optimal inflation rates (Grabner 2003). In reality the optimal levels of inflation may differ among the countries in the currency union. Furthermore, the cost or problem of currency union inability of participant countries to independently choose an inflation rate. It seems relatively less important now than in the past as improvements in available technology to central banks enable sustainable inflation that result in low actual inflation rates in most countries however if a country plagued by low productivity enters a currency union of higher productive countries, it could experience higher inflationary rates (Coleman 1999). THE BENEFITS One of the main benefits of currency unions envisaged by Mundell (1961) is the elimination of currency conversion costs and greater predictability of prices which would increase trade. The savings are more significant for small, open and less developed countries whose currencies are not used for international payments (Grabner 2003). Coleman (1999) mentions the savings from the reduction of transaction costs and reduction of price uncertainty together account for 0.4 percent of GDP in the Eurozone. Increased price transparency and reduced price uncertainty are often quoted as interrelated benefits of currency unions. The reduction of price uncertainty is linked to the use of unit of account which is simultaneouslu used by broader economic area (Zika, 2006). The even disappearance of exchange rates removes a vital barrier to trade integration; this furthermore leads to better information, increased competition and price transparency (Jacquet 1998 and Grabner, 2003). Further benefit of monetary union is the removal of competitive devaluations by member countries which also known as â€Å"beggar-thy-neighbor† policy (Kronberger, 2004). Within currency unions, both importers and exporters have a strong interest in avoiding disproportionate swings in exchange rates. The transfer of resources between regions by the centralized monetary authority through its money issuing function. These transfers can be used to diversify the risk of expected economic shocks however; public finance plays a significant role (Voss, 1998). Currency union has the potential to reduce the number of investment failures. Price uncertainty negatively impacts the welfare or risk adverse individuals in standard economic theory. The greater exchange rate volatility tends to impair the quality of decisions about investment projects abroad; therefore greater exchange rate volatility implies more frequent investment failures and larger costs (Grabner, 2003). Higher risk caused by the increase in price and exchange rate uncertainty increases the real interest rate. Higher real interest rates then highlight the problems of moral hazard and adverse selection. This therefore helps lower systematic risk (Grabner, 2003). Finally, the vast economic area of currency unions increases the effect of networking. The adoption of a single currency in a bigger economic area creates greater benefits for all users. Looking at the economic structure of the United Kingdom and Eurozone, both have projects which are suitable to the individual development and growth of both economies. The United Kingdom becoming a member of the eurozone will be more of disadvantage than benefit to the United Kingdom due to several reasons. The core argument for entering the EMU is the elimination of exchange risk against the euro which would promote much more trade with and within Europe by merging the rather risky and limited sterling capital market into a bigger and less risky euro capital market. The joining of the Eurozone is not to world currency but a regional one. Outside of Europe, most of the world either uses the dollar or is tied to it in some way therefore trade and investment would be half with the euro area and half with the dollar area. But over the years, euro/dollar exchange rate has been highly variable which when compared to British pound/dollar exchange rate it doesn’t seem convincing. If the UK remains outside, the pound can go between the two currencies as the euro swings occur against dollar thereby sitting on the middle of a seesaw. Looking at this, there is no necessary gain in the exchange risk reduction in UK joining the Eurozone and that it is even possible that the overall risk would rise. The benefit of price transparency and comparison between UK and Eurozone is also of little importance in the sense that United Kingdom has no land borders with the Eurozone unlike Belgium and Netherlands. Given this fact, the comparing of prices between both zones is irrelevant. In terms of bailout and the emerging state pension crisis, growth and development is slower than expected while unemployment is turning out to be higher. The politics of pension cut benefits is speculative given that the aging population will increasingly be dominated by older voters. The effect of raising taxes further would lower growth and increase unemployment. It is a matter of concern to the UK that cost of meeting explosive financial liabilities might somehow impact British taxpayers. In conclusion, the reduction of transactions cost of currency exchange would be roughly offset by the one-off cost of currency conversion. There would be some gain from eliminating exchange risk against euro but this would be offset largely by the volatility against the dollar with around half our trade broadly defined with countries either on or closely linked to the dollar. Generally, the exchange risk does not appear to have an important effect on trade or foreign investment, and in the UK case, on the cos of capital. Honestly, I would like to advice that the UK waits and properly assess and plan out different projects. Due to the structure of the Eurozone, I am strongly against the UK joining the Eurozone which is the best interest of British citizens REFERENCES A Coleman. (1999).Economic integration and monetary union.Available: http://www.treasury.govt.nz/workingpapers/1999/twp99-6.pdf . Last accessed 04-01-2015. Andrew K. Rose. (2006).Currency Unions.Available: http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/arose/Palgrave.pdf. Last accessed 05-01-2015. Available: http://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/cato-journal/2004/5/cj24n1-2-10.pdf. Last accessed 04-01-2015. G.M.Voss. (1998). Monetary integration, uncertainty and the role of money finance.Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. 65 (2), 231-245. G Fink And D Salvatore. (1999).Benefits and Costs of European Economic and Monetary Union.Available: file:///C:/Users/G1308037/Downloads/6.2_Fink.pdf. Last accessed 05-01-2015. G Thompson and D Harari. (2013).The economic impact of EU membership on the UK.Available: https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=trct=jq=esrc=ssource=webcd=10cad=rjauact=8ved=0CGEQFjAJurl=http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/sn06730.pdfei=iBCsVJ_QAefe7AbMvYDgDgusg=AFQjCNG. Last accessed 05-01-2015. Guillermo A. Calvo And Carmen M. Reinhart. (2002).Fear Of Floating. Available: http://web.cenet.org.cn/upfile/87741.pdf. Last accessed 02-01-2015. Investopedia. (2015).Currency Union.Available: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/currency-union.asp. Last accessed 05-01-2015. Jan Zika. (2006).Cost and Benefits Of A Monetary Union.Available: http://janzika.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2006/03/Monetary_union.pdf. Last accessed 02-01-2015. Jacquet P. (1998).A worthwhile gamble. International Affairs.Available: No. 1, January, Vol. 74, pp.55–71.. Last accessed 04-01-2015. Mark Carney. (2014).The Economics Of Currency Unions.Available: http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/speeches/2014/speech706.pdf. Last accessed 06-01-2015. Patrick Minford. (2002).Should Britain Join The Euro?.Available: http://www.iea.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/files/upldbook147pdf.pdf. Last accessed 07-01-2015. Patrick Minford. (2004).Britain, The Euro, And The Five Tests. R. Kronberger. (2004).A cost-benefit analysis of a monetary union for MERCOSUR with particular emphasis on the optimum currency area theory.Available: http://econwpa.wustl.edu:80/eps/mac/papers/0407/0407010.pdf . Last accessed 04-01-2015. R Layard, W Buiter, C Huhne, W Hutton, P Kenen and ATurner. (2002).Why Britain Should Join The Euro.Available: http://willembuiter.com/RL334D.pdf. Last accessed 05-01-2015. Robert A Mundell. (1961).A Theory of Optimum Currency Areas. Available: http://digamo.free.fr/mundell61.pdf. Last accessed 05-01-2015. Ronald I. Mckinnon. (1963).Optimum Currency Areas.Available: http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1811021?sid=21105014573601uid=4uid=3738032uid=2. Last accessed 02-01-2015. S Rosa. (2004).Definition Of Currency Union.Available: https://www.imf.org/external/np/sta/bop/pdf/cuteg1.pdf. Last accessed 04-01-2015. S.Silva and S. Tenreyro. (2010).Currency Unions in Prospect and Retrospect.Available: http://personal.lse.ac.uk/tenreyro/cupaper.pdf. Last accessed 01-01-2015. S.Tenreyro. (2001).On The Causes and Consequences of Currency Un.Available: http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/arose/tenreyro.pdf. Last accessed 05-01-2015. Willem H. Buiter. (2008).Why the United Kingdom Should Join the Eurozone.Available: http://willembuiter.com/ifeuro.pdf. Last accessed 05-01-2015.

Kimberley Jayne Fletcher :: English Literature

Kimberley Jayne Fletcher The links and connections between ‘Flight’-by Doris Lessing, ‘Your Shoes’-by Michele Roberts, ‘Chemistry’-by Graham Swift, ‘Superman and Paula Browns new snowsuit’-by Sylvia Plath, and ‘growing up’-by Joyce Carey. The main theme in all the pieces of prose is ‘family’. In ‘Flight’ the granddad and granddaughter growing up and having to let go because the granddaughter is getting married, and it’s hard for family to let people you love go. In ‘Your Shoes’ the mum is upset about her child running away and is telling the audience/reader how she is feeling and how certain she will come back because she hasn’t got her new shoes she bought her. In ‘Chemistry’ the relationships betweens the granddad, mum, son and new boyfriend and how their lives change when their close family die. In ‘Superman and Paula Browns new snowsuit’ the boys family and friends not believing him that he didn’t push Paula brown in oil slick and ruining her new snowsuit. In ‘Growing up’ the dad is too tied up with his work during the week and one weekend he decides to spend time with his two daughters and he realises how much they have grown up. Both ‘Chemistry’ and ‘Flight’ the children feel betrayed by their granddad. The boy in ‘Chemistry’ feels betrayed by his whole family but his granddad the most because he has just committed suicide to get away from his daughter who has changed because of her new boyfriend and the boy think that his granddad is the only one who understands him and now that he's gone he has no one like his granddad. The girl in ‘Flight’ is feeling betrayed by her granddad because she knows how much he loves his birds and he also loved her as much as his birds. So when he let go of his birds it was symbolical of him letting go of her, so she can have freedom in her life and not have him interfering in her life. But the irony is that she wants him in her life. All of the stories portray betrayed but by different people, ‘Flight’ and ‘Chemistry’ the boy and girl betrayed by their granddad. ‘Your Shoes’ the mother is betrayed by her daughter. In ‘Your Shoes’ the mother is talking about what her daughter is like and how she feels betrayed by her because her daughter had always liked her grandmother more than her and she had always hated her mother because of the way she treated her when she was young. ‘Superman and Paula Browns new snowsuit’ the child is betrayed by their family and friends. In ‘Superman and Paula Browns new snowsuit’ the writer doesn’t tell us

Huella Proposal

Founded in 1999 in Kuala Lumpua, Malaysia, Huella Online Travel was an Internet travel portal targeting Greater China and Asian Pacific. Huella online travel agent is a retail business, that sells travel related products and services to customers, on behalf of suppliers, such as airlines, car rentals, cruise lines, hotels, railways, sightseeing tours and package holidays that combine several products. Huella ‘s Hong Kong was launch in 2000. Up to 2004, the revenue growth in Hong Kong had been less than expected. Huella market share in Hong Kong to be only 4% compared 9% in Singapore.This time, Huella wants set up a whole new marketing research to get a depth insight into Hong Kong online travel market. 2- OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY: The previous research is very useful in exploring how people awareness of the Huella brand, however they are not conclusive of the public perception in Huella’s target market. In my opinion, we should conduct a research marketing strategy for Hu ella using a quantitative approach. From this research we should be able to identify: customers, competencies and competitors. Research Objectives: †¢ To identify demographic, economic, lifestyle, and traveling desire in Hong Kong market. To determine a match between consumers’ needs and how Huella online travel agents can be able to match these needs †¢ To identify main attributes of online travel agents that appeal to the target market†¢ To assess the target market’s purchase intent and purchase habits †¢ To determine promotional efforts that appeal to the target market †¢ To determine the price sensitivity of the target market for online travel agents †¢ To identify ideal channels to market the brand in Hong Kong †¢ To identify competition in Hong Kong travel agencies including brick-’n-mortar agents and online agents. – SAMPLING: Another part that is very important, how the sampling is done. Personally, I strongly re commend using online survey and face-to-face interviews because Huella is an online business. Yet online survey usually has low responds so I also want we have face-to-face surveys that will be more effective because Hong Kong is a small territory and high population. We can collect primary data by survey research and behavioral data. Sampling plan:Sampling size: 300 Sampling unit: white collar, young professional, foreigner travelers in Hong Kong. Sampling procedure: randomly Method: survey and behavioral data Demographics: age between 18 years old to 40 years old. Gender: male and female Professions: general Geography: Tsim Sha Tsui, Mongkok, Causeway Bay Contact methods – online survey, face-to-face. 3- ANALYSIS AND REPORT The result from this research will be put in power point and hard copy format.

Chemical Policy Regulation Essay

The European Commission’s Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACH) is a new system wherein manufacturers, distributors, and importers are required to sign-in their chemical inventories into a centralized database, along with information on physical and chemical properties, safe handling, hazards, and uses. Substances with carcinogenic, toxic, or mutagenic activity will require permission before being used, and any chemical whose risks are too unmanageable will be banned for use. REACH will thus be an aid in the management of information on chemicals, since it will demand that unknown data on chemicals currently in use be determined for registration purposes, and that new chemicals to be used by industry will now have a standardized procedure for the acquisition and distribution of information and control on their use. In detail, REACH will operate in the manner described in the following sentences. First, parties dealing in chemical products will be required to send a dossier of information on chemicals that they handle that are produced in excess of 1 metric tonne annually. Basic information will be required of chemicals dispensed in the range of 1-10 metric tonnes, while more will be asked of chemicals distributed in larger quantities. As an example of additional data that will be required, substances produced in excess of 10 tonnes annually should have an associated chemical safety report in which the hazard and risk assessment of the substance for specified uses must be outlined and how the risks posed by the chemical can be ‘adequately controlled’ for these uses. One component of the assessment is an â€Å"exposure scenario†, a summary of the use(s) and appropriate risk management measures for the substance studied. All the safety data then submitted for â€Å"substances of very high concern† and chemicals used in bulk will be evaluated by a panel of experts, and any chemical whose use cannot be justified in terms of its risk of use being under control or its socio-economic value outweighing risks considered will be subjected to a phase-out and replacement with safer alternatives, if there are any. REACH in effect is an implementation of the venerable â€Å"precautionary principle†, one statement of which being that the burden of proof of a chemical’s ability to deal severe or irreversible harm should be foisted upon the advocates of the chemical’s use, in the absence of evidence that the chemical is safe for use. To illustrate the importance of the â€Å"precautionary principle†, one only needs to look at dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and the organochlorine pesticides that followed. At the time of their introduction, they were widely accepted and hailed as being much safer than the inorganic pesticides such as the arsenicals that were then the mainstays of pest control. It was only after many years of use that their deleterious effects towards human health and the environment became noticeable. In short, the tenet â€Å"innocent until proven guilty† is not to be applied to chemicals that may require years of use before exerting ill effects, and by then the damage done may already be too difficult or impossible to undo. REACH aims to address issues such as safety, the phasing out of â€Å"substances of concern†, and the encouragement of innovation in industry. In detail, REACH can address health issues because, by its very nature, it will prevent the unnecessary use and needless release into the environment of substances whose risk of use cannot be justified as against the benefits that can be accrued. In this respect, if it can be shown that a substance under scrutiny has no justifiable reason for its continuous use because of the availability of environmentally benign alternatives, its phase out will be implemented as soon as possible. Finally, industry will be spurred, in theory, to research possible replacements for the hazardous chemicals that they currently use due to the pressure exerted by REACH to limit or stop the use of   hazardous chemicals, paving the way for innovations. To facilitate the implementation of REACH, the European Chemicals Agency will be established in Helsinki, Finland. The Agency will serve to coordinate the majority of the work related to chemical regulation and evaluation. Members of the European Union still wield responsibility, however. A large portion of the data gathered through REACH will be publicly accessible. The legislation aims to protect human health and the environment, but the risk of negatively impacting the European economy has been brought up by concerned parties. Efforts to strike a happy medium have been going on for several years. One side has talked about increases in the incidence of cancer and disorders related to the malfunction of the endocrines, while the other side has focused on burgeoning red tape, rises in costs and loss of jobs as businesses move away from Europe. Groups with vested interests in the chemical industry have been accused of lobbying to water down REACH for their benefit. As such, there are groups that say that REACH has loopholes that can enable unscrupulous industries to persist in using â€Å"substances of very high concern† for their convenience. While industry has sought to have REACH’s requirements loosened, European trade unions and environmentalists have joined forces in arguing for strong legislation. It is said that one in three work-related illnesses in the 15 older EU member states is due to chemical exposure. REACH also enjoys the backing of consumer groups and medical associations. A limitation of REACH is that it only applies to chemicals manufactured in or imported into the EU, and therefore is not applicable to chemicals that are incorporated into finished products. So a product like a television, or computer or shampoo made outside the EU could contain chemicals that are not registered under REACH – providing they are not banned under specific safety regulations (such as lead). Polymers (plastics, rubbers, and ilk) are excluded from the auspices of REACH for the time being, but monomers, or the chemicals used to make them, will still be covered by REACH. Pesticides, biocides and   human and veterinary pharmaceuticals are also exempt from REACH, the rationalization being that they are regulated under a different legislation from industrial chemicals. Industrial byproducts and waste are also not covered by REACH, but substances produced from waste or substances used in the processing of waste are covered by REACH. REACH defines what it calls â€Å"substances of very high concern† as substances that belong in any of these categories: substances that are cancer-causing (carcinogenic), mutation-inducing (mutagenic) or interfere with the body’s reproductive function (CMRs); substances that take a long time to break down (persistent), accumulate in the body (bioaccumulative) and are toxic (PBTs); substances that are very persistent and very bioaccumulative (vPvBs); and substances that have serious and irreversible effects on humans and the environment, for instance endocrine disrupting substances. Any new results in light of the effects of a chemical under scrutiny on the environment or human health can influence its retention or phasing out.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As an example of the chemicals that can fall under these previously mentioned classes, the previously mentioned organochlorine pesticides will fall under the PBT category; Alar, a plant growth regulator that was pulled out from the market due to concerns about the mutagenicity and carcinogenicity of one of its breakdown products will fall under CMR, and the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) which, although nontoxic, tend to persist in the atmosphere to cause damage to the ozone layer will belong to the vPvB category. Note that a chemical only has to satisfy one of the set criteria of a certain category to belong.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Hazard triggers are an approach where â€Å"substances of high concern† are classified according to the hazards they present when tested in various models. Hazard triggers can be used as an adjunct or substitute for risk assessment since it is usually faster and cheaper to use such. However, extrapolating results of lab tests to what can happen when a chemical is used outside the lab is not always accurate. It has happened in previous times that there were chemicals that exhibited no injurious effects in lab tests and were subsequently shown to be unsafe when used in the field. Conversely, there have also been cases where a chemical that was initially shown to cause serious health problems in animal models was barred from further use even if subsequent tests demonstrated that its use poses no risk to human health. As such, the evaluation of a chemical’s safety based on hazard triggers should proceed on a case-to-case basis, and should be thoroughly scrutinized. Example hazard triggers include persistence (measured in terms of half life in soil or aquatic medium), long-range transport (quantified by the DT50), and ecotoxicity (of which the LC50 is the quantifying parameter). – aims of REACH – controversial issues associated with the legislation – substances of `high concern` – hazard triggers and risk assessment – the implications of REACH for Environmental protection References BBC News (2005) Q&A: REACH Chemicals Legislation [online] accessed at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4437304.stm Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (2004) Government Response to the Royal Commission on Environmental pollution Report on Chemicals in Products, Cm6300, HMSO [online] accessed at http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/chemicals/ukpolicy.htm European Commission (2006) REACH in Brief, based on common position of the Council [online] accessed at http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/reach/index_en.htm The Lowell Center for Sustainable Production (nd) REACH – The New EU Chemicals Strategy: A New Approach to Chemicals Management [online] accessed at http://www.chemicalspolicy.org/reach.shtml REACH Compliance (2007) http://www.reach-compliance.eu/english/index.html