Directive

About: Directive is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 5695 publications have been published within this topic receiving 56084 citations.

Regulating health and safety management in the European Union : a study of the dynamics of change

Abstract: In the face of the challenge of economic competition in increasingly globalised markets, regulating the management of occupational risk is a central aspect of strategies for both social protection and employability in the European Union. The analysis of the supports and constraints to its development and implementation is therefore of fundamental importance in understanding the significance of the role of regulation in the chaning world of work in the European Union today. The EU Framework Directive 89/391 was an important milestone in the shift from prescriptive to more process based forms of health and safety regulation in the EU. In this book the origins and development of this approach are traced in several European countries and the impact of the Framework Directive on the process and dynamics of change is analysed. The book shows how economic, political, technical and regulatory structures, cultures and practices influenced, filtered and formed national reception, transposition and implementation of the Directive. It highlights both the strengths and weaknesses of process regulation and helps to explain variation in its operation. Contents: David Walters/Ton Wilthagen/Per Langaa Jensen: Introduction. Regulating Health and Safety Management in the European Union -- David Walters: The Framework Directive -- Anna Hedegaard Riis/Per Langaa Jensen: Denmark: Transforming Risk Assessment to Workplace Assessment -- Chantal Rivest: France: From a Minimalist Transposition to a Full Scale Reform of the OHS System -- Marian Schaapman: Germany: Occupational Health and Safety Discourse and the Implementation of the Framework Directive -- Chantal Rivest: Italy: The Difficulty of TransposingNational Law into Regional Practices -- Jan Popma/Marian Schaapman/Ton Wilthagen: The Netherlands: Implementation within wider regulatory reform -- Kaj Frick: Sweden: Occupational Health and Safety Management Strategies From 1970-2001 -- David Walters: United Kingdom: From a Piece-Meal Transposition to a Third Way -- David Walters: Conclusions: The Reception of the Framework Directive in Different National Systems.

Implementation of the Patient Self-Determination Act (PSDA) in nursing homes in New York City.

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To examine implementation of the Patient Self Determination Act (PSDA), verbal directives, procedures for determination of resident' decision-making capacity, and role of ethics committees in nursing homes in New York City. DESIGN: Telephone survey. PARTICIPANTS: Social workers in 109 (69%) nursing homes in New York City. MEASUREMENT: An 80-item instrument addressing: (1) social worker knowledge of the PSDA; (2) informing residents about advance directives (living wills and durable power of attorney for health care [health care proxies]); (3) determination of decision-making capacity to be informed about advance directives; (4) estimates of advance directives executed; (5) perceptions of PSDA effect; (6) ethics committees; (7) follow-up and documentation; and (8) staff and community education. MAIN RESULTS: Virtually all social workers in nursing homes stated that they made what they perceived to be a “serious effort” to inform residents about advance directives and to have residents execute directives (preferentially a health care proxy). More residents were thought to have executed a directive pursuant to the PSDA law than before the Act went into effect. Social workers in most homes informed residents about directives through face-to-face discussions. Most homes, however, did not inform residents who were thought to lack decision-making capacity about their right to execute a directive. Only 37% of homes had written procedures to determine a resident's decision-making capacity to be informed about directives; most homes relied on physician and social work assessments. Voluntary homes differed significantly from proprietary homes in that they were larger, more likely to have an ethics committee, and more aggressive in their implementation of the PSDA. Forty-five percent of homes with an ethics committee had written procedures for determination of resident decision-making capacity compared with 26% of homes without a committee. Overall, 24% of residents were thought to have executed an advance directive. The number of directives per bed did not vary significantly by facility size, ownership, religious affiliation, or whether they did or did not have an ethics committee. CONCLUSIONS: The fact that social workers in nursing homes speak with most residents about advance directives has the potential to improve resident understanding around end of life decisions. The practice of not informing residents about advance directives when they are perceived to lack decision-making capacity is problematic given that most homes have no clear procedures for determining residents' cognitive capacity to execute a directive. There is a need to replicate the benefits achieved by homes with ethics committees in implementing the PSDA in other homes.

Seed Legislation and agrobiodiversity: conservation varieties

Abstract: European seed policies and legislation have contributed to fostering a system in which fewer varieties are traded in ever bigger markets in accordance with the law of economy of scale. Informal seed systems have been marginalised and perceived as outdated in a scenario in which the agricultural system was being modernised. In 1998, however, the European Union recognised the need to conserve agricultural genetic resources and created a catalogue specially for registering what it called ‘conservation varieties’. In June 2008 an EU Directive was issued regulating the agricultural species involved. So what is this ‘new’ category of variety. What impact will it have in supporting the informal conservation initiatives in agricultural biodiversity and making them legitimate? This article sets out to address these questions by analysing the concept of conservation variety from when the phrase was coined up to the recent European directive 62/2008. After describing and evaluating the impact that the directive may have, Italian regulation on conservation varieties will be analysed focusing on synergies and diversities. Lastly, in the light of the International Treaty on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, attention will turn to the regulations in order to verify how they correspond.