Now that you have completed the first six assignments, it is time to complete your research project for the course. Include the following sections in your submission. Title Page Table of Contents Ex

SUN COAST REMEDIATION COURSE PROJECT 0

Sun Coast Remediation Course Project

Jermaine Griffin

Sun Coast Remediation Course Project

Introduction

Senior leadership at Sun Coast has identified several areas for concern that they believe could be solved using business research methods. The previous director was tasked with conducting research to help provide information to make decisions about these issues. Although data were collected, the project was never completed. Senior leadership is interested in seeing the project through to fruition. The following is the completion of that project and includes the statement of the problems, literature review, research objectives, research questions and hypotheses, research methodology, design, and methods, data analysis, findings, and recommendations.

The identified business problems for Sun Coast have been listed below:

Particulate Matter (PM)

There is a concern that job-site particle pollution is adversely impacting employee health. Although respirators are required in certain environments, PM varies in size depending on the project and job site. PM that is between 10 and 2.5 microns can float in the air for minutes to hours (e.g., asbestos, mold spores, pollen, cement dust, fly ash), while PM that is less than 2.5 microns can float in the air for hours to weeks (e.g. bacteria, viruses, oil smoke, smog, soot). Due to the smaller size of PM that is less than 2.5 microns, it is potentially more harmful than PM that is between 10 and 2.5 since the conditions are more suitable for inhalation. PM that is less than 2.5 is also able to be inhaled into the deeper regions of the lungs, potentially causing more deleterious health effects. It would be helpful to understand if there is a relationship between PM size and employee health. PM air quality data have been collected from 103 job sites, which is recorded in microns. Data are also available for average annual sick days per employee per job-site.

Safety Training Effectiveness

Health and safety training is conducted for each new contract that is awarded to Sun Coast. Data for training expenditures and lost-time hours were collected from 223 contracts. It would be valuable to know if training has been successful in reducing lost-time hours and, if so, how to predict lost-time hours from training expenditures.

Sound-Level Exposure

Sun Coast’s contracts generally involve work in noisy environments due to a variety of heavy equipment being used for both remediation and the clients’ ongoing operations on the job sites. Standard ear-plugs are adequate to protect employee hearing if the decibel levels are less than 120 decibels (dB). For environments with noise levels exceeding 120 dB, more advanced and expensive hearing protection is required, such as earmuffs. Historical data have been collected from 1,503 contracts for several variables that are believed to contribute to excessive dB levels. It would be important if these data could be used to predict the dB levels of work environments before placing employees on-site for future contracts. This would help the safety department plan for procurement of appropriate ear protection for employees.

New Employee Training

All new Sun Coast employees participate in general health and safety training. The training program was revamped and implemented six months ago. Upon completion of the training programs, the employees are tested on their knowledge. Test data are available for two groups: Group A employees who participated in the prior training program and Group B employees who participated in the revised training program. It is necessary to know if the revised training program is more effective than the prior training program.

Lead Exposure

Employees working on job sites to remediate lead must be monitored. Lead levels in blood are measured as micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood (μg/dL). A baseline blood test is taken pre-exposure and postexposure at the conclusion of the remediation. Data are available for 49 employees who recently concluded a 2-year lead remediation project. It is necessary to determine if blood lead levels have increased.

Return on Investment

Sun Coast offers four lines of service to their customers, including air monitoring, soil remediation, water reclamation, and health and safety training. Sun Coast would like to know if each line of service offers the same return on investment. Return on investment data are available for air monitoring, soil remediation, water reclamation, and health and safety training projects. If return on investment is not the same for all lines of service, it would be helpful to know where differences exist.

Research Objectives

The following were the objectives of the research:

RO1: To determine if there is a relationship between the size of PM and the health of employees.

RO2: To identify whether safety training has been effective in reducing the time lost in hours.

RO3: To determine the dB levels in job sites before sending employees to work there.

RO4: To determine if the new employee training program is more effective than the previous one.

RO5: To determine whether the blood lead levels in employees have increased in order to determine the level of exposure to lead.

RO6: To identify if there is a difference in the return on investment on the company’s lines of service.

Research Questions and Hypotheses

This research aimed at measuring the following hypotheses and answering the following research question:

RQ1: Is there a relationship between the size of PM and the health of employees?

H01: There is no relationship between the size of PM and the health of employees.

HA1: There is a significant relationship between the size of PM and the health of employees.

RQ2: Has the safety training been effective in reducing the time lost in hours?

H02: The safety training has not been effective in reducing the time lost in hours.

HA2: The safety training has caused a significant reduction in the time lost in hours.

RQ3: Does the dB level in the job site exceed the standard 12decibels?

H03: The dB level does not exceed 120 decibels in the job site.

HA3: There is evidence that the dB level exceeds 12o decibels in the job site.

RQ4: Is the new employee training program more effective than the previous one?

H04: The new employee training program is not as effective as the previous one.

HA4: There is significant evidence that the new employee training program is more effective than the previous one.

RQ5: Have the blood lead levels in employees increased?

H05: There is no evidence of increase in blood lead levels in employees.

HA5: There is evidence of increase in blood lead levels in employees.

RQ6: Is there a difference in the return on investment among the company’s lines of service?

H06: There is no notable difference in the return on investment among the company’s lines of service.

HA6: There is a significant difference in the return on investment among the company’s lines of service.