By : ______________________________________________

I/C number : _______________________________

Matrix Number : ____________________________

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1. BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) is the only Chartered body
for health and safety professionals in the world. We were founded in 1945 and
have been registered as a charity since 1962. Across the world, two million people
die every year as a result of health and safety failures therefore were committed to
creating A world of work which is safe, healthy and sustainable.

Since past few years the usages of mobile has increased very rapidly. A mobile
phone (also known as a cellular phone, cell phone, and a hand phone) is a device
that can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link while moving around a
wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a
mobile phone operator, allowing access to the public telephone network. Pretty much
everyone have it now. Hence, many said that mobile phones can be the cause of
social and medical problems in work. So, to get this clearer, a survey was conducted
to get some information about the advantages and disadvantages of mobile phone.
A questionnaire form can be referred in Appendix A.

2. METHODOLOGY

There are many types of methodology and really no best practice. Some look
towards the qualitative and quantitative questions and some use an evaluation
process. The key is to ask the right questions so that the correct method is chosen.

To collect the information in this report, a sample of 50 adults of mobile phone users
were gathered. Basically in this report, I personally use a simple and easy to
understand a methodology which is mix methods. The quantitative includes a usage
of a graph. A questionnaire form was given to these 50 users that were taken
randomly. The result then was compiled and analysed in Microsoft Excel. For
qualitative, I did a short interview, structured and closed-ended questions. Refer
Appendix B for the questions. In addition, to get some information about the

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disadvantages of mobile phones, I did a short observation by looking at the people

and communities nowadays.

3. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Questionnaire

Items

Agree
(number of
people)

Disagree
(number of
people)

Mobile phone makes communication

easy.

50

The mobility of mobile phone keep you

updated.

43

Mobile phone is useful when in

emergency.

49

Useful applications in mobile phone (e.g

Whatsapp, Google, Prayer Guide etc)

39

11

Mobile phone is all-in-one gadget.

(alarm, camera, calendar, notepad)

45

SMS / Instant messaging is very useful.

48

Internet in mobile phone helps in many

ways.

42

I capture a picture using my mobile

phones camera.

44

Mobile phones major purpose is to make the process of communication easy and to
be very honest mobile phones are doing this job very successfully. They can get in
touch with people all around the world just by dialling few numbers. If we look at the
above table, majority of 50 people agree that mobile phone makes communication
easy.
Forty-three people choose agree as their answer in keeping them update while they
are away. As the name is mobility, they can take it anywhere. So, like old times they
do not have to stay at home just to take an important call. Or they do not have to

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miss a call when they are away from home. It is extremely useful when job require
lots of travelling.
In emergency mobile phone can be a great help. It is proven in the questionnaire that
49 people out of 50 agree with the statement. Imagine, a car broke down in the
middle of a highway and there is no help around at that time, a mobile is totally a
saviour. Many old people can be a little more independent because now days there
are many mobiles with the facilities that are very useful in emergencies. In
emergency, a touch of a button can send a number of messages to the close
relatives and friends. This is not only very helpful for adult users but also for old
people or people with some severe disease, living alone.
Now days there are millions of different applications are available for mobile phones.
Some of them can be quite useful. Apart from this, there are several mini
applications that can be of a great help in our day life which is totally agreed by 39
people of the sample.
Mobile is an all in one gadget. Forty-five out of fifty samples have agreed on this.
Only five can say something else. If they want to wake up in the morning, then, it
works as an alarm. It tells time, day, date, works as a notepad when to note
something important down and remind of various events.
SMS, Short Message Service is very useful to forty-eight of the people. With the help
of this service they can send a common message to lots of people. This is a real
time saver. Another advantage is that it can help to contact with other people if they
are in a place or scene where they cannot talk on the phone.
A great number of forty-two people admit that internet is one of the advantages in
mobile phone. Almost, all the phones that are made now days have facility to use
internet. This is very important for people of all age groups. People who work can get
their mails on the phone itself. Students can search for information from the internet.
Last but not least, a camera in a mobile phone can be really useful in capturing
memories because no matter how smaller a real digital camera get, it still cannot be
carried everywhere. However this forty-five people agreed that having a mobile

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phone everywhere they go makes them easy to capture their favourite moments.
The pictures and videos taken through mobile phones by people, of a crime, have
been very useful in carrying on investigations and bringing justice.
60

Bar Graph of Questionnaire Result

Number of sample

50
40
30

Agree (number of people)

Disagree (number of people)

20
10
0
1

Items

In todays global environment, technology is very important to all of us. Living,

working are all in need of technology. We use technology to communicate, improve
general knowledge and much more. As many things have been developed, from
year to year, century to century, the world has become unique. But the most popular
gadget is mobile phone, which make us easy to communicate with each other
globally.

In spite of its advantages, therere also some disadvantages of mobile

phone too.
First of all, mobile phone is easy to use, communicate and handy. You can call
anywhere, local or international. For example, if you have relatives or friends that live
aboard, you can easily call them just in a minute. However, it can entertains you as
well. You can check internet, listen to music, texting, play game and so on. For
example, you just get back from work or school, you can play some music to reduce
you tiredness and stress. Other point of view is, easy to send or check email but your
personal data, making a note, reminder, alarm.

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3.2 Interview
A majority of the people surveyed by IOSH for the report analysis of mobile phone
said owning a cell phone makes them feel safer because they can always use it to
call for assistance. A large number (88 per cent) also said their phones help them
make plans with other people. In particular, the adults said they use calls and text
messages to set up meetings with others.
A significant number (75 per cent) said they sleep with their cell phones on or right
next to the bed, and those folks are even more likely to see their phones as an
effective way to make plans. And 81 per cent of them also enjoy their phones as a
source of entertainment. A table shows the summary of interview conducted.

Questions
Do you feel safe because you can
always use your mobile phone to get
help?
Do your phones make it easy to
arrange plans with others?
When you bored, do you use your
mobile phone to entertain yourself?

Yes

No

Dont
Know

88%

12%

0%

75%

24%

1%

81%

19%

0%

3.3 Observations
Observational techniques are an important aspect for a report. In this step, I am
going to talk about the disadvantages found in using mobile phones. First of all in our
mobile social life, try to flash back our memory and try to remember what kind of
SMS that always interrupt us. I bet a message from unknown saying that we won a
lucky draw is totally a mess. Sometimes it tells us that we will get a thousand to
million dollars only if we have deposited them a big amount of money. Although this
problem has been reported to the authorities, the non-responsible people are still
doing this problem specifically to the elderly and woman.

During Lahad Datu stand-off, all of us were very afraid of what was happen. We
received a lot of warning and report. However, it is just rumours. In this case, mobile
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phone had played their role. It has been used as a tool to spread rumours. This
happens when a false rumour spread through the SMS. Those who easily believe
without making investigations will easily spread this news to one and another.

On the other hand, for a younger user, they will always stick to their own mobile
phone. We can see lots of people include younger and older will spend their time
browsing their phone or playing games on it. This is such a wasting time. As we can
see, this kind of disadvantage of mobile phones is getting worse. People love their
phone and keep looking on it though someone is in front of them.
Besides that, there are also users whom abuse the function of phone camera and
video. As we know, the function is to capture or record something memorable but
some of dumb people captured a picture or record a video that is not good for others
or I can personally say a porn pictures and videos. This is always happen to
youngsters.
In terms of medical problem, excessive use of mobile phones can affect health. Eyes
that work too hard to look on the mobile phone will surely tired. The small screen
needs a lot of focus which can brings to headache. Besides, the radiation also can
cause a bad disease such as cancer in long-term. Use of hands-free (wired/bluetooth) can at times pass on loud sounds to our ears which can result in weakening of
ear-drums. Nowadays, one can download lots of songs, so keeping the hands-free
glued inside your ears for long hours can really affect the sensitivity of ears in the
long run of life.

4. CONCLUSION

Cell phones are now everywhere. Over half the world's population has one and the
developing world has largely skipped over land lines and gone straight to mobile
devices. In Tanzania, 97 per cent of people have access to a cell phone, while only
27 per cent have access to a land line. In India, more people have a cell phone than
have access to toilets. The proliferation of this technology brings many benefits.

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It is a trend nowadays for everyone to have a mobile phone. Especially for

teenagers, having a mobile phone will represent their status. In this situation, parents
should play their role by giving them some advices on how to use the phone
properly. The parents should limit their time with the phone so they will not wasting
their time and doing nothing. Parents should take note that, children and youth under
20 should not use mobile phones except in emergencies.
Apart from that, keep cell phones turned off unless absolutely necessary. When they
are on, dont carry them in your pocket or against your body. Keep the back of the
phone, where the antenna is, facing away from your body. Moreover, use a headset
or wireless headphone with low power. This removes the phone from right beside
your brain. As for a safety reminder, use your phone only when or where the signal is
good. In marginal areas, it steps up its power output, so you are exposed to more
radiation.
To take care of your health from the extra using of mobile phones, one should text
rather than talk. It uses less power and exposes you less. If you need to talk, use
your phone on speaker, and keep it further from your head. If you place it on your
lap, use a barrier (like a book) between your phone and your body. A pregnant
woman also should keep cell and wireless phones away from their abdomen, and
everyone should keep cell and wireless phones away from babies, children and
youth.
Some people may want to ban mobile phones from school, but I disagree. We did
not ban pens in our schools because students can pass notes during class. The
pencils have also survived even though you could poke someone in the eye. And the
amount of paper that is generated in most schools is almost criminal. This is a new
time in education and with dwindling budgets, so we need to rethink possibilities,
stretching every dollar. These mini computers are walking through the doors each
day, let us put them to work.
In general, mobile phones have both pros and cons to our society. They make the
people's lives and works become more convenient. Yet, mobile phones still impact
badly on health, time and communication of individuals. To avoid these problems,

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each person should manage the time of using mobiles reasonably. Besides, the
awareness of people about the disadvantages of mobile phones should be improved.
As a conclusion, it is all depends to us on how we use it. But for me, mobile phone is
a good technology which is not lacking from our lives. Today, mobile phone has
become popular to everybody since it is very convenient. The most advantage of
having a mobile phone is you can communicate to your family and your friends no
matter what where you are. For instance, you can contact easily to your friends by
calling or sending messages everywhere without electricity. It is maybe the main
reason why almost all people today choose to own a mobile phone.

From the my point of view, it is obvious that mobile phones assist you in business a
lot, such as, make schedule of working, surf the internet, and keep in touch with their
companies. Moreover, you can relax with mobile phones applications, for example,
play games, listen to music, or chat with your friends. Owning a mobile phone in your
hand is you can solve many issues and hold most of information around the world.
Having said all about cell phones, I think they are one of the biggest boons humanity
ever had. If used properly and sensibly, cell phone can be a wonderful piece of utility
in life and most of its disadvantages will simply be insignificant.

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Reference

(2010, 11). Advantages and Disadvantages: Mobile Phone. Retrieved 11, 2010,
from http://www.studymode.com/essays/Advantages-And-DisadvantagesMobile-Phone-462452.html

J. Appl. Sci. Writ. (2004), Study on the Art of Scientific Report Writing: Emulation
of Style. Retrieved June 20, 2013, from
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/4978518/simple-examples-of-report-writing

US Army Corps of Engineers. (2003), Sample Risk Report, 1-9

(2013) About Us. Retrieved July 3,2013, from http://www.iosh.co.uk/

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10

Appendix A

INTERVIEW SCRIPT

Respondent : ______________
Age : ___________
Gender : Male / Female

Questions

Yes

No

Dont Know

Do you feel safe because you can always

use your mobile phone to get help?
Do your phones make it easy to arrange
plans with others?
When you bored, do you use your mobile
phone to entertain yourself?

Notes :
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________

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11

Appendix B

QUESTIONNAIRE FORM

Age : ________________
Gender : Male / Female

You are advised to answer the items with honesty. Give (circle) ONE answer
only for each item.
No

Items

Mobile phone makes communication easy.

Agree

Disagree

The mobility of mobile phone keep you updated.

Agree

Disagree

Mobile phone is useful when in emergency.

Agree

Disagree

Agree

Disagree

Agree

Disagree

4
5

Useful applications in mobile phone (e.g Whatsapp,

Google, Prayer Guide etc)
Mobile phone is all-in-one gadget. (alarm, camera,
calendar, notepad)

Circle 1 answer

SMS / Instant messaging is very useful.

Agree

Disagree

Internet in mobile phone helps in many ways.

Agree

Disagree

I capture a picture using my mobile phones camera.

Agree

Disagree

Comments :
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________

~THANK YOU FOR YOUR COMMITMENT~

May 1, 2013