Browsing by Author "Ofori, Isaac"

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    Assessment of the Quality of River Bukuruwa as A Drinking Water Resource of Some Farming Communities In The Techiman Municipality
    (2011) Ofori, Isaac
    River Bukuruwa is a prominent river in the Techiman municipality of the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana. It runs through several rural farming communities in the municipality and serves as the main source of drinking water and for other domestic purposes in the communities. An assessment of the quality of the water for drinking purposes was conducted by determining levels of some physico-chemical parameters (pH, colour, total hardness, sulphate, fluoride, phosphate, nitrate, nitrite, conductivity, turbidity), and heavy metals (Fe, Cu, Zn and Pb) as well as enumeration of bacteriological indicators ( E. coli, faecal coliforms and Salmonella) in water samples from the river. Samples were taken from three points along the river at Baamure (upstream point), Kroamoa (midstream point) and Kaniago (downstream point). The results showed that all the investigated physicochemical parameters of water samples from the sampling points were within the minimum permissible limits for drinking water as suggested by WHO except those of pH (5.31 – 6.84), Turbidity(0.00- 6.00 NTU), Nitrite (0.01- 0.7mg/l), Phosphate (0.04 – 4.78mg/l), Conductivity ( 160 - 455µS/cm) and Colour (0.00 – 185 CU). Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometric (AAS) analysis of samples for dissolved trace metals indicated levels of the investigated metals were within WHO permissible limits except for Pb (< 0.01 – 0.05ppm). Bacteriological quality assessment of the water samples also revealed that water samples from all the sampling sites contained indicator bacteria i.e E. coli in the range of ( 2.58 x 101 – 8.7 x 101) and faecal coliforms ( 4.35 x 101 to 3.22 x 102 ) indicating contamination of the water by materials of faecal origin. Salmonella was however not detected in any of the water samples analysed. Water from the Bukuruwa river was therefore found to be unsuitable for drinking purposes.
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    Safety performance of building contractors in Ghana
    (2015-04-24) Ofori, Isaac
    The construction industry is considered one of the most hazardous industries not only in developing countries like Ghana but also throughout the world due to its unique nature. For example Kumasi alone recorded 124 construction accident deaths from 1999 t o 2014. The hazards for this industry make it very essential to pay more attention to construction safety and to impr ove the safety performance of building contractors. However, safety is not a luxury but a necessity, and may be considered an important function to be u sed against unnecessary loss. Very little research has been done in this field in Ghana. The aim was to empirically conduct an in-depth study into the safety performance of Building Contractors in Ghana. The objectives of this research are t o identify factors that significantly influence the safety performance of building contractors in Ghana, to identify and adapt a standardised tool for evaluating the safety performance of building contractors and to evaluate the safet y performance using the identified standardised tool. Seventy –five sub factors were identified and grouped into ten main factors. In this study, only K1D1 building contractors in Accra metropolis were considered. A field survey was conducted through a questionnaire for forty-six building contractors in Accra metropolis. The collected data was analysed to presents statistical measures by using SPSS software. Ranking of the factors were done using the mean score and standard deviation values. It was concluded that the main factors influencing safety performance of building contractors in Accra metropolis are; organizational safety awareness & commitment, development of safety policy, financial motivation to application of safety, productivity bonus payment and relation between worker and management on site. Three out of the selected companies were used for the iii case study. The results of the case study shows that; relationship between worker and management on site should be cordial, government must make it compulsory for professional workers to join a professional body, productivity bonus for their workers and plans to allocate specific budgets for safety records and providing technical guidance in job performance for their workers need to be improved, the building contractors must implement a system for safety incentive for the workers, company management to conduct clear safety policy and periodically random safety inspections for technical works and the concerned government authorities to hire qualified, competent and certified engineers to conduct regular site inspections.