Citation

Hale AR, Swuste PHJJ. Safety Sci. 1997; 25(1-3): 3-14.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1997, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Following initiatives in the UK and Sweden, pioneering work was carried out in Ballarat to set up schemes for sharing health and safety solutions in industry. Since 1990 work coordinated from the Netherlands has been undertaken to extend and develop the systems available in Europe and internationally for exchange of information about solutions. An inventory of existing schemes and initiatives led to the establishment of a network of interested organisations at European level and to the establishment of a group under the auspices of the World Health Organisation (PACE). This network has lobbied successfully for the incorporation of the task of information dissemination in the objectives of the European Health and Safety Agency. Currently a pilot project is being set up to develop and test the necessary collection, storage, coding and dissemination networks in a number of European countries. The core of a successful scheme is the support it gives to people with specific problems searching for useful solutions. An intelligent software support system has been developed in prototype and will be tested in the pilot project. Its development has forced the research team to take a close look at the fundamental principles linking health and safety problems to solutions and to question some of the assumptions underlying them. The codification of existing knowledge about practical solutions and how to stimulate people to consider and use them turns out to be far more complex than most experts at first anticipate.