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EditorialThirsty for OSH knowledge?Sheila Pantry OBE Data on occupational health, safety and hygiene can be found in numerous formats e.g. journal articles, guidance and advice publications and reports, standard specifications, legislation, research reports and web sites. Some 20-30 years ago it was perhaps more simple to access this type of data because there were a comparatively limited number of journals, authoritative organisations, publishers, research organisations, and pieces of legislation being passed into law. Now the scene is much more complicated - serious occupational safety and health (OSH) information seekers need to know where the gaps are in OSH information, and examine closely the concept/myth of "It is all there on the Internet and Free of charge" and the effects of believing this when making decisions that relate to securing effective health and safety standards in the workplace. So are you drowning in information yet thirsty for knowledge? It is always good to keep researching and finding out if there are services and other ways of keeping up-to-date in this fast changing world of ours. Time is precious and many people are really stretched in their jobs and find it difficult to keep ahead in current knowledge that they should have for their jobs. But help is at hand for those working in health, safety and fire and fire related industries. Fireinf www.fireinf.com is the world's premier collection of validated, authoritative fire and fire related information and contains two major collections. For those individuals and organisations that do not subscribe to a range of journals/magazines this is one way of ensuring that the latest news, developments and trends are available. The 4 Full Text Collection databases containing thousands of pages of full text information (about 12,000 pages added in 2007) and The Bibliographic Collection has 7 databases which contain over 266,000 records to journal articles, guidance and advice, circulars, reports, conference proceedings, research reports, statistics and codes of practice from worldwide sources, all of which may be easily accessed. One of the databases - from the British Standards Institution - contains references to over 4000 fire and fire related standards. This long established collection started in 1997 as Fire Worldwide and then expanded into Fire, Emergency and Preparedness Worldwide. From 2007 the collection continues to expand with the new software and host platform as Fireinf and aims to help all those seeking information on all aspects of fire, emergency and preparedness management principles, fire risk assessment, good practices and research. Fireinf is continuously enlarged as new information is published. OSH UPDATE - are you using it? If not, why not?More information on health and safety at work - not only from Europe but around the World, including advice and guidance, legislation and much more can be found by checking out the OSH UPDATE electronic collection of information sources. Seekers will find a wealth of authoritative and validated advice from around the world. Best practices, case studies, journal articles, reports and knowledge of systems are in OSH UPDATE. Another database of information from the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) has been added to the collection - making a total of 18 databases in OSH UPDATE. And at no extra cost! Why not try OSH UPDATE for yourself? Take a 15 day free trial to a collection of over 800,000 sources of authoritative and validated information contact: Sheila Pantry Associates Ltd | Tel: +44 (0) 1909 771024 | Fax: +44 (0) 1909 772829 | email: sp@sheilapantry.com | or fill in the Interest form www.sheilapantry.com/interest.html Health and Safety in Ireland?And for those living and working in Ireland there are some databases in OSH UPDATE that are specifically aimed to keep people up-to-date - e.g. the full text legislation and essential need-to-know guidance and advice. Sheila Pantry Associates Ltd. publish a number of health, safety, environment and fire electronic services / products that contain information from well-known worldwide organisations. These services, that are regularly updated, contain both full text and bibliographic information. All services are available for a 15-day free trial. OSHWORLD - your portal to some of the best OSH web sites in the worldThis is a good time of the year for all organisations to review their health, safety, chemical, fire and environment procedures on a regular basis. It is important that the practices and systems in the workplace are constantly reviewed and if necessary, improved. This review may also indicate training requirements and updates and re-thinking how systems and services can be improved. This is where the free-of charge OSHWORLD can help you. Look at the latest additions to the Diary of Events and you will see plans have been made already worldwide up to the end of 2008 and beyond to have training courses, symposiums and conferences in many places in the world on a wide range of subjects. Remember that even if you cannot attend these many events, speakers and organisers are often willing to share their knowledge. Look at the details - where possible, we add in the web sites of these events so you can request further information. And do let me know if you are organising any OSHE events so that I can add them to the Diary. OSHWORLD's FOCUS this month looks at the new UK Shattered Lives campaign. The HSE has now launched the 'Shattered Lives' campaign, to highlight the devastating consequences of simple slips, trips and falls - including falls from height - in the workplace. Try these Practical, Affordable Solutions for your health, safety, fire and environment information needs from Sheila Pantry Associates Ltd: In addition to the above we hope that you find the information in OSHWORLD useful in your daily work. Globally there are continually new titles, news items, new products so remember to look at the News to find the latest information from a number of worldwide sources. Use OSHWORLD as your portal to many hundreds of validated and authoritative web sites which you can find in the Country and Subject links we offer. New subject topics are constantly brought together on web sites, e.g. avian flu and the workplace. Most information services have a reference shelf where you can quickly check the reference sources - so OSHWORLD brings you a collection of Reference sources and also teaches you how to Search the Internet. Click onto the various Bookshops to order any new document as they are being published. Many of these Bookshops have a constant stream of new titles available. Please send any suggestions or comments about OSHWORLD - your portal to validated and authoritative information. Remember also to look at our other really useful sites - www.sheilapantry.com and why not make a free entry about your company's products in www.shebuyersguide.com. Don't work harder - work smarter! Be ahead of the game. Well did you have a zero accident, incident-free and healthy year in 2007 in your workplace? Some would argue that this is not possible! But keep on trying again in 2008! |