Brothers in Arms, Partners in Trade
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A RA tool can be used to perform a risk assessment including an evaluation of the identified risks. These tools were among the first online risk assessment tools developed in Europe.
OiRA is a European web application, dutch powered by trade expert of a tools generator and interface. The overall purpose of the Dutch digital RA tools as they stand today is to ensure that SMEs primarily, but micro enterprises in particular, comply with the legal obligations to execute a risk assessment and to reduce the administrative and financial burden on them in doing so.
Furthermore the aim is to improve their level of health and safety; to improve general awareness about the existence of the RA tools and finally to stimulate the development by the social partners of new sector-specific RA tools.
Nowadays sector-specific RA tools are available online on the website www. The intention was that you should be able to complete the RA including the action plan, within 2 hours. Sometimes it is less, sometimes it takes more time, depending on the content of the tool. Sector-specific RA tools also make it easier to provide dutch powered by trade expert solutions for business, as standard solutions to resolve a potential risk are available in the RA tool or additional information is available, for instance through hyperlinks.
In order to have an adequate understanding of the context in which digital risk assessment RA was developed in the Netherlands, it is necessary to elaborate on the Dutch situation. In this context, the role of the Government is primarily to:. The role of social partners is primarily to contribute to the development of means and tools to facilitate the implementation of OSH-related legislation and policy.
At the same time, Government and social partners are involved in sustaining each other in their respective roles by means of consultation and cooperation on several levels. The legislation stipulating the use of risk assessment is the Dutch Working Conditions Act WCA, Arbeidsomstandighedenwetaccording to which all employers must record the risks faced by their employees in their health and safety policy, as well as develop a plan for how they intend to reduce these risks.
The initial Dutch risk assessment questionnaire consisted of paper-based lists of generic health and safety dutch powered by trade expert questions to be answered by the employer: Have any accidents ever occurred in the company? What could go wrong that might cause failure to machinery? What is the risk of this happening?
How could this risk be limited? Subsequently, a plan had to be developed in consultation with the employees in which the business owner outlined how and when he intended to deal with the identified risks. However, this approach presented a number of problems, especially to the smaller businesses. In their perception risk assessment meant:.
It should also be easily understood, so that the employer or company could fill in the questionnaire themselves which would in turn lower the costs. Faced with this challenge, Government and the employers organisation for SMEs, MKB Nederlanddecided to embark upon a joint venture to reduce the burden on small companies.
Its main aim was to develop a series of measures and tools to boost compliance with the WCA and reduce the complications experienced by small businesses.
One of the identified needs of SMEs was the development of a digital risk assessment tool. Having formulated the conditions the new tool had to meet, MKB-Nederland and the Government went into cooperation with the research organisation TNO for its development.
The main requirements of the tool were:. This first digital risk assessment tool, a generic tool, was launched in spring The choice of a generic approach served two purposes. First, it allowed sectors without any RA tools to have access to a generic tool. In the development phase, research was carried out to determine how SMEs think and act when it comes to risk assessment. The draft tool was presented to the Labour Inspectorate part of Government for their comments.
These dutch powered by trade expert proved that the tool was adequate, yet they dutch powered by trade expert that there was a need for transformation of the generic tool to a more sector-specific approach, focussed on the more important risks and possible solutions in specific sectors. As part of the MKB Arbo Activiteitenprogramma website was also developed which gave access to the generic tool. It did not take long before the need emerged for a fine-tuning of the original tool.
On the basis of their positive experience with the generic tool, several sectors voiced the need for the instrument to be further developed to take account of their specific business practices and argued that the tool would be used more if it were tailored to specific sectors. Acknowledging the problems faced by the smaller businesses, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment decided to co-fund the development such sector-specific versions and in tailor-made RA tools for 20 different sectors were launched.
The sectors were chosen in conjunction with MKB-Nederland and according to the needs and willingness of the different sectors to participate. In a series of focus groups with SMEs and OSH experts hired by the sector organisations, the most important risks to be addressed by SMEs in each of the different sectors were identified. Subsequently, the focus groups also assessed and approved the test version of the sector tools once they had been developed.
In order to support the implementation of the generic and sector specific tools in the Netherlands, two different strategies were developed.
Initially, the provision of support and a helpdesk for the generic tool and for some of the sectoral tools of its member organisations was located at MKB-Nederland. However, once the 20 sector-specific tools had been developed, a further step was made to bring the unions dutch powered by trade expert board. All of these sector tools focus at least on the most important risks of specific sectors and were developed with the involvement of TNO knowledge institute for businesses, government bodies and social organisations and the OSH preventive services.
TNO dutch powered by trade expert takes care of the day-to-day running of the support function. Their main task is to assess whether the developed sector risk assessment satisfies the criteria for an exemption of the expert test.
An important element in this process has been the active involvement of the social partner organisations, especially those at sector level, in promoting the RA tools to their members. However, the collaboration of other partners such as insurance companies, accountancy firms and other advisers to small businesses has also been sought.
One challenge in this context has been the difficulty for social partners in reaching the smallest companies with between employees, as very few of the employees in these companies are members of a trade union. The communication campaign consisted of a number of dutch powered by trade expert with SMEs and road shows at OSH events, as well as the production of brochures and articles to reach the relevant target audience.
A special website was set-up by the RA support point. Also included is a link to the tool and to the relevant sector organisation as well as information on the level of acknowledgement of the tool by the social partners. Furthermore, there is specific advice on how to carry out a risk assessment geared to the two main target groups: The process of carrying out a risk assessment is divided into four different phases in order to make it more manageable for those involved.
The steps differ depending on the target dutch powered by trade expert. Information about risk assessment is increasingly provided via social media.
Regular updates and issues are provided via the twitter and linkedIn account of the RA support center. Furthermore there is now the possibility of having your questions answered via twitter at certain set times. The need for developing tailor-made sector-specific tools was strongly promoted both by social partners and Government and during the period between anda large number of sectors were added.
Over the years, a number of further developments have taken place including regular updates of the various sector-specific tools. Instead, they can comply dutch powered by trade expert the OSH legislation by completing a questionnaire that has been approved by the employers and workers organisations in the relevant sector. This has provided a relatively easy and dutch powered by trade expert way for the smallest companies of fulfilling the risk assessment requirement.
It is also a strong incentive to participate in the RA exercise. Sixty-nine instruments are made with the Dutch version of the OiRA tool generator 36 approved. The development of the generic RA tool took around one year. Further fine-tuning in connection with the subsequent 20 sector-specific tools took another year.
The full process to get from a generic paper-based version of RA to a situation where more than sectors are covered by an online tailor-made RA tool has taken some 6 years at least. Given that other countries will now have the possibility to benefit from the technical developments created by the Dutch and by EU-OSHA, the process is likely to be significantly faster elsewhere.
It has not been possible to get an estimate of the total expenditure on the Dutch RA tool as so many different stakeholders have contributed to the development. Companies with a maximum of 25 employees who use a RA tool with this mark from their specific sector do not need to approve their RA.
After sending it to the Support Point RA the logo becomes available on the website www. An RA tool can be endorsed for a maximum of 3 years. An administrative system dutch powered by trade expert been put in place for that purpose. Three months before the endorsement ends the partners will receive a letter informing them that the RA tool has to be updated. If they do not manage to do so within the timeframe, the endorsement logo will be removed.
Sector organisations dutch powered by trade expert order the brochure with their own logo to disseminate in their sector. In the brochure was either checked or downloaded The campaign was based on the principle that the business owner is triggered by topics that are relevant for the continuity dutch powered by trade expert the dutch powered by trade expert. The message of the campaign was: A new appealing and accessible website checkjewerkplek.
Here dutch powered by trade expert focus was on specific topics: During the campaign the five themes were introduced on the website dutch powered by trade expert promoted via the media. Hygiene, the fifth and last was introduced in November A famous hygiene and quality controller, known from the television spoke about his experiences. The campaign offered practical instruments for employers and consultants via their website as well as various activities.
Furthermore, the campaign avoided explicit prescriptive strategies such as telling the employer exactly what to do. Another implicit strategy was to change and add things in the technical or social environment of the businesses in order dutch powered by trade expert foster desired behaviour. This is a prevention and emergency card in one. With a set of stickers the risky spots at the workplace can be marked. The card is visible at the workplace, fast to fill in, and reduces the time of to teaching new employees about risks.
The tools are explained with a short video. Other videos show interviews with business owners. For example an owner of a fish shop. In addition an interactive knowledge quiz powerpoint presentation was developed to transfer knowledge towards employers and employees about risk assessment.
This quiz was used at road shows and contained:. The quiz is illustrated with pictures and movies. The quiz ends with a winner in the company. The number of visitors to the campaign website is still increasing over time.
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