Aini Mat Said

Environmental concerns, knowledge and practices gap among Malaysian teachers

Environmental problems are caused directly or indirectly by the patterns of production by industries, patterns of consumption and behavior of the consumers. The shaping of attitude and values, commitment and skills needed to preserve and protect the environment begins at an early age. Hence educators play an influential role in developing new patterns of behaviors for individuals. Accordingly, aims to determine the level of knowledge, environmental concern and ecologically conscious consumer behavior and identify the extent of involvement in nature‐related activities of school teachers. Also investigates the relationships between these variables. The subjects were 285 school teachers who were randomly selected from ten regular government schools in the state of Selangor, Malaysia. A survey was conducted using drop and collect method. The data illustrated the presence of high level of environmental concern among the teachers. The environmental knowledge was fair but generally poor in understanding of the underlying causes of environmental problems. The practices of environmentally responsible behavior were not in concert with the level of concern and knowledge. The respondents were not actively involved in nature‐related activities. Proposes ways of enhancing the ecological awareness and responsibilities of the teachers.

A review of disaster and crisis

A disaster and a crisis are two different, and related events. The two terms are sometimes used interchangeably. Man‐made disaster that occurs at an industrial organization, may develop into an industrial crisis. Crisis can happen to any organization. It has been noted that there were no universally accepted definitions yet developed for disaster and crisis. There is also no universally available criteria, to define the disaster in terms of the consequences, such as the casualties and the cost of damage. This paper reviews the definitions, types, characteristics, criteria and models of disaster and crisis. Also the types of crisis were rearranged and the differences between the disasters and crises have been summarized.

Environmental comprehension and participation of Malaysian secondary school students

Environmental education was first formally introduced to Malaysian schools in 1986. Its implementation since then has been limited owing to various constraints facing teachers, and its success in achieving stated environmental education objectives remains uncertain. In view of this, an empirical, exploratory, descriptive study was undertaken to gauge levels of environmental understanding, awareness and knowledge, and the involvement of secondary school students in sustainable consumption practices. A survey was conducted using a self‐administered questionnaire with 306 students who were randomly selected from four secondary schools in the state of Johor, Malaysia. The instrument had sections addressing demography, sources of environmental information, concept of environment, environmental knowledge, environmental awareness and concern, sustainable consumption behaviours, and nature‐related activities. The data illustrate that students were aware of, but only moderately concerned with, environmental issues. Only 10% of the students were able to define environment in terms of a relational conception (as opposed to an object). The adoption of Janikowski’s four principles of sustainable consumption (selection, reduction, maximization and segregation) in their daily living was modest. Environmental education ‘in’ and ‘with’ nature experiences was found to be minimal among the respondents. The relationship between variables was also investigated. The findings showed that environmental education had raised the environmental consciousness of students but was rather ineffective in changing action and behaviour patterns. Ways of enhancing understanding and participation of Malaysian school students in environmental education and sustainable development are also proposed.

Technological man‐made disaster precondition phase model for major accidents

Major hazard organizations are dealing with hazardous material exceeding the threshold quantity. Major hazard organizations are relatively secure areas and cannot fail from single error. However, failure of an organization to control hazardous material usually results in a technological man‐made disaster. The conditions preceding the onset of technological man‐made disaster are collectively called the technological man‐made disaster precondition phase “incubation period”. A model has been developed representing the technological man‐made disaster pre‐condition phase where it focuses on the origin of the technological man‐made disaster. The model was based on detailed analysis of four technological man‐made disasters at major hazard installations in Malaysia.

Community preparedness for tsunami disaster: a case study

Purpose – The main objective of this study is to develop a tsunami emergency response plan for a coastal community by adopting a community‐based disaster preparedness approach.Design/methodology/approach – A multi‐strategy research design utilizing both quantitative and qualitative methods was used. The weaknesses and strengths of the different agencies involved in responding to the 2004 tsunami disaster were identified through a focus group discussion. A survey was used to assess the preparedness of the community. Tsunami awareness and education were imparted through lectures, sermons, radio talk shows, informal briefings, workshops and printed materials. Tsunami evacuation routes, safe zones, warning protocols and evacuation plans were finalized through a consultation process with the community. A tsunami evacuation plan was verified during a table‐top exercise and was tested through a drill.Findings – It is evident from the study that a community‐based approach (where the local community is taken as th...

Fire incident at a refinery in West Malaysia: the causes and lessons learned

Abstract Refineries are major hazard installations (MHI) which possess large quantities of hazardous substances. Refineries are characterized by high complexity and tight-coupled organization. Due to the high complexity and level of interaction among subsystems, designers and operators are unable to predict failures at the refinery units. The world has seen many incidents in refineries through leakage, fire and explosions. The consequences of the accidents sometimes extend beyond the boundary of the property and reach the neighboring residents. This paper reviews refinery incidents worldwide and also outlines the causes of a fire incident at a refinery in West Malaysia and the lessons learned.

Fire and explosion at mutual major hazard installations: review of a case history

Abstract In industry, it is common that there are independent but related major hazard installations which compliment each other. The link between the major hazard organizations is an interface between the installations. This interface is a critical area for the mutual major hazard installations. Examples of such organizations are chemical cargo ships and their terminal storage yard, the supply vessels and platforms, floating storage tanks at offshore areas and oil tankers, two offshore platforms tied together etc. This paper summarizes the major accident at M. T. Choon Hong III Ship and Tiram Kimia Sdn. Bhd. (TKSB), and also discusses the causes which led to this major accident. It was found that the lack of integrity is the main cause behind the escalation of the fire and explosion at the Choon Hong III Ship and the TKSB. It was noted that the disaster which involved mutual major hazard installation was preceded by two incubation periods.

Bright Sparklers fire and explosions: the lessons learned

The fireworks industry is a dangerous business. Many disasters occur due to manufacturing and use of fireworks. It has been recorded that there have been 15 disasters resulting from fireworks worldwide. Malaysia has experienced such tragedies through a fire and explosion of Bright Sparklers fireworks factory. This paper summarizes the sequence of events which led to the Bright Sparkler disaster and proposes some lessons which could be learned from the experience.

A typology of personal factor attributes among shoppers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to derive a comprehensive model with integrated dimensions of trait constructs to understand the shoppers’ dispositional traits in consumption. This study endeavors to gain empirical validation of a motivational network of shoppers’ traits in consumption as well as to ascertain different shoppers’ typology from the configurations of personal factor attributes. Design/methodology/approach – Store-intercept method was used to collect data from a sample of 600 apparel adult shoppers at five shopping malls in Klang Valley, Malaysia. The factor structure of personal factors was achieved using confirmatory factory analysis. The hierarchical and non-hierarchical cluster analysis was employed to develop the shoppers’ typology. Findings – A relatively good fit in confirmatory factor analysis validates the applicability of the conceptualized personal factor attributes measurement model. The constitution of personal factor attributes results in three shoppers typology of Confid...

Determining the Income Differences and Complaint Behavior Among Automobile Repairs and Service Consumers in Shah Alam, Malaysia

Abstract Understanding consumers complaint behavior is vitally important as it enables the company to enhance customer satisfaction as well as their experience with the particular company. This paper aims to investigate the differences in income and complaint behavior among automobile repairs and service consumers in Shah Alam. Data for the study was collected using self-administered questionnaire among 400 respondents who sent their cars for servicing at eight selected service centers representing four top car brands sold in the country in 2011. Only those who had experience a service failure within the past twelve months with the respective service center were selected as respondents. They consisted of 60.8 percent female with an average of 28.5 years old and majority of the respondents had tertiary education level. The result indicates that, there is no significant different in consumer complaint behavior in term of respondents monthly income.