SUMMARY 05/2005

Housing Construction in Jihlava

At the end of the 1980s Jihlava - a beautiful town in the heart of Vysočina - had a population of approximately 56 000 inhabitants. After November 1989 a portion of the housing stock was put to non-residential use, and this shortage was compensated with the construction of new housing. Last year, the number of inhabitants fell below 50 000 to reach its current 49 455. This decline is partly a result of the separation of some communities and is partly owing to natural population development.

In 2004 the total number of dwelling units completed in Vysočina was 1580. It was primarily family homes that were constructed in this area (722 units out of the total), the type of housing in which almost two-thirds of the population in this region lives (i.e. the highest proportion in the Czech Republic). Last year 430 new dwelling units were built in tenement buildings, the majority of them directly in Jihlava, where large engineering firms are currently expanding and there is the greatest demand for flats in the region. The average price of a newly constructed dwelling unit in Jihlava is approximately 24 000 CZK/m² (non-subsidised price). The rate of the construction of housing units in the region has remained constant into 2005 and will continue in future years, as the number of housing units on which construction was begun last year exceeded 1900.

Health and Safety Management System at Work

This article presents an account of the additional requirements emanating from the normative OHSAS 18 001, essential for the implementation of the Health and Safety Management System (HSMS) at work.

Structure and Responsibility

As in the case of systems of quality control and environmental protection, in systems that focus on health and safety at work it is necessary to define the tasks, authority, and responsibilities that pertain to employees in management and executive positions, who have an influence on the realisation of HSMS. The requirement clearly does not signify any large changes. It is likely that key organisational or labour-code types of documentation already contain the requirements put forth by HSMS, and it is not difficult to proceed from there to further define the areas of authority and responsibility in the descriptions of job profiles, company guidelines, work instructions, and other such matters.
The requirements expect that top management designate a management representative to be responsible for:

• the introduction and operation of the HSMS throughout the entire organisation in accordance with the stipulations in OHSAS 18 001
• submitting reports on the performance of the HSMS for review by top management.

This task may be fulfilled by the extant senior employee assigned with the function of management representative for quality and/or the representative for the environment, or it can be assigned to another senior employee. It is also expected that top management provide the resources for implementing, managing, and improving the HSMS - meaning the necessary human resources, technology, and financial resources.

The Brdíček Mill in Hamry nad Sázavou

The Brdíček Mill is located on the right bank of the Sázava River in Hamry nad Sázavou, in the area of the town known as Šlakhamry (hamr means hammer-mill). The name of this section of town itself indicates that in the past this is where the hammer-mills used to operate. The early stages of iron forgery in the Žďár region are closely linked to the activities of the Cistercian monastery that was established Žďár nad Sázavou in the middle of the 13th century. In addition to the their religious mission the Cistercians carried with them new ideas for the development of the local economy. One of the branches they focused on was iron forgery. In the vicinity of the monastery several hammer-mills emerged and continued to operate up until the middle of the 17th century. Later some of them were transformed into grinding mills thanks to the utility of their water works.

Such was also the case of the Brdíček Mill. Its owners used and repaired the water works for the purpose of driving the milling equipment.