Center for Safety Management and Engineering / Department of Industrial Management / Tampere University of Technology / P.O. Box 541 / FIN-33101 Tampere, Finland+358 40 849 0359 / juha.vasara@tut.fi Kivistö-Rahnasto, JouniCenter for Safety Management and Engineering / Department of Industrial Management / Tampere University of Technology / P.O. Box 541 / FIN-33101 Tampere, Finland+358 40 567 4676 / jouni.kivisto-rahnasto@tut.fi
ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT
Legislation sets various responsibilities for every company. Companies should be aware of the requirements of both current and upcoming legislation. However, the work of collecting and processing this information requires resources.
This case study describes an approach to collection of legislative safety information for importers of technical products. The carrying out of the project can be divided into 8 phases. The main part of the work was to define and collect together a group of participants who will co-operate in a network. The result of this project is an information system that helps the importer companies to find information about the legislative safety requirements concerning their own products.
Keywords
Keywords
Information system, safety legislation, authorities, network
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Background
Legislation sets various responsibilities for companies. The requirement to follow the law does not necessarily depend on the size of the company. In addition to the current legislation, companies should also be aware, in good time, of the requirements of the any upcoming legislation. The work of collecting and processing this information requires resources. Reliable information sources are necessary, too. Small and middle-sized companies especially have difficulties in being aware of all the relevant information.
Legislative information concerning safety requirements is an essential part ofthe regulations for the importers of technical products. Product safety and health as well as conformity with the legislative requirements are prerequisites for any ethical and sustainable business. Since Finland became a member of the European Union (the EU) in 1995 a large number of national acts have been harmonized to conform to the requirements of Community Provisions. These contain, for example, regulations and directives. [1, 2] Harmonised legislation facilitates business operations throughout the EU region [3].
Companies need real time information about the current and upcoming safety requirements when preventing accidents or health problems for their customers. The information may also help companies to avoid safety relatedproduct or service liability issues. In addition, it helps the companies to prepare for the changes and to take best advantage of new opportunities offered by new products or services.
The problem is how the companies can identify reliable and updated
Acquisition of new information End user
 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Authorities Tampere University of Technology
Authorities Tampere University of Technology The Association of Finnish Technical Traders Other experts Maintainer End user |
Figure 1 The Process of Flow of Information
On the other hand the compiled information system is supposed to be co-operative. It means that it shares the same goals with other agents in its environment. In this case with the sources of information and the maintainer illustrated in Figure 1. The challenge with the co-operative systems is how the system continues to share goals with their environment as it evolves in the future. [4]
Concerned areas of the co-operative information system can be divided into
Group Organizanional Collaboration Facet Facet Systems Facet
 |
|
Group Collaboration Facet Organizanional Facet |
Systems Facet
Purpose
Figure 2 The Facets of Co-operative Information Systems [4]
In September 2006 a study “Developing the Association of Finnish Technical Traders TKL lex legislation service” began. The aim of this project is to develop a practical way to collect and present required legislative information concerning safety issues for importers of technical products. In addition, the purpose is to avoid liability costs and to improve both the general level of safety and profitabilityof the companies.
The project is carried out by the Association of Finnish Technical Traders (TKL) and Tampere University of Technology (TUT) in co-operation with a group of companies and a group of Finnish authorities. This case study describes how the approach to collection of legislative safety information for importers of technical importers was developed.
METHODOLOGY
This case study was carried out in 8 phases (Figure 3). The first 3 phases focused on collecting a network of participants, defining the products of the participating companies and the relevant safety legislation related to the products.
In the next 3 phases the end users knowledge of the legislation wasevaluated. This evaluation was made in order to understand the end users’ requirements for legislative information and for incorporation in the information system. In the last 2 phases the legislative information collected was converted into an Internet based information system and tested by the companies.
 |
|
- 4. 3. Defining the relevant legislation and legislative demands concerning safety requirements Composing test questions of the legislation
- 5. Testing the questions with participating companies6. 5. Testing the questions with participating companies 7. Compiling and testing a demonstration version of the information system Completing the collection of relevant legislation concerning safety requirements7. 6. Completing the collection of relevant legislation concerning safety requirements Compiling and testing a demonstration version of the information system8. Compiling a final version of the information system 8. Compiling a final version of the information system Figure 3 Phases of the Project
RESULTS
Phase 1; Defining and collecting a group of participants into a co-operative network
TKL and TUT were the initiators of the project. TUT has a co-ordinating role in the project. Primarily the project started with defining and collecting a group of participants who will co-operate with TKL and TUT. In practice the task in the 1st phase was to go through all the Finnish departments of government and the civil service departments that fall under their jurisdiction. The authorities relevant to the project were found in these departments. The role of the authorities was to coverthe legislative safety demands for their own area of responsibility. The authorities, between them all were selected to represent all the different fields of legislation concerning safety requirements.
The final result of this phase of the work was a list of the relevant authoritiesworking in the departments of government or in the Finnish civil service departments and in participating companies from among the TKL’s members. The authorities represented the Safety Technology Authority, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (Industrial Safety Department), the Industrial Safety District of Uusimaa, the National Product Control Agency and the Finnish Environment Institute.
Another part of this phase was to select suitable companies from the TKL’s member companies. These companies were supposed to test the results of this project in different phases. The Association is divided into 22 Sections of Operations covering various branches of industry, such as the Chemical Section, the Machine Tool Section, the Power Equipment Section and the Woodworking Machinery Section. The companies were selected to cover the important Sections of Operations of TKL. Eight companies from different Sections of Operations were chosen. These companies represented the Automotive Importers and Distributors Section, the Chemical Section, the Earth Construction Machine Section, the Machine Tool Section, the Woodworking Machinery Section, the Packing Section and the Process Automation Section.
Phase 2 and 3; Defining the products to be studied and the relevant legislation and legislative demands concerning safety requirements
In this project the legislative safety demands were studied from the product point of view. The participating companies chose appropriate products from their own product range. Each of the companies chose 2-5 products from their own product range. After defining the products the most important legislative safety demands related to those products were specified.
The TKL already has one kind of legislation service for their own member companies. The current service is only concerned with upcoming legislation but in this study the service was also extended to the current legislation concerning safety requirements. An essential task was also to find new methods to collect and handle the demands of legislation with the help of the authorities.
The legislative demands concerning safety requirements that concern the participating companies chosen earlier were defined in the 3rd phase. The first example, relating to one product, was handled in TUT. The definitions for otherexamples were made in co-operation with the authorities. The definitions covered both the current and the upcoming legislation.
After specifying the model version for the one product the lists for other products were sent to the authorities. The lists were sent separately or in small groups by e-mail. The authorities had approximately 2 weeks to go through the products on each list. The aim was to avoid overloading the authorities too much all at once. The authorities defined relevant legislative safety demands related to the products from the participating companies. The output of the 3rd phase was lists of current and upcoming safety legislation concerning the chosen products. The legislation covered mechanical safety, product safety, electrical safety, chemical safety and environmental safety.
Phase 4, 5 and 6; Composing test questions, testing the questions with participating companies and completing the collection of relevant legislation concerning safety requirements
Companies have different levels of knowledge concerning legislation.
Therefore, after defining the legislative safety requirements the next phase was to prepare questions for the participating companies. The aim of asking the questions was to find out what the companies actually know about the relevant legislation. The questions concerned the most essential demands of the safety legislation that had been gathered.
In practice the 3rd and 4th phase were, in part, implemented simultaneously.
Some of the authorities both specified the legislation and composed the test questions simultaneously. As indicated earlier the work was done in several parts; the authorities were sent the selected products in groups of one to five. After the authorities sent back the lists of questions they were combined into an electronic table that contained all the sample products, the relevant legislation and the test questions about the legislation for the companies. Finally the questions were converted into separate lists for each participating company. In addition, the lists were reviewed with the authorities.
The 5th phase was the testing of the relevant questions with therepresentatives of the participating companies. The companies were asked the questions both face to face and by e-mail. The result of the 5th phases testing was that the companies showed a certain lack of information related to the essential legislation. The upcoming legislation especially is not known very well. In larger companies the information they do have is usually spread between several people.
In the 6th phase the earlier defined lists of the most essential legislativesafety requirements, related to the sample products, were then completed with the addition of some important requirements that were to be found unfamiliar to the sample companies. This phase was implemented in co-operation with TUT, TKL and the authorities.
Phase 7; Compiling and testing a demonstration version of the information system
In the earlier phases of the project the network of participants agreed a method to define relevant legislative demands concerning safety requirements. It was necessary to create a system to store, distribute and publish the collected information. The solution was an Internet based information system. The end users of the system can search for the legislative safety requirements that concern their companies’ product groups. The system is available at http://turva45.me.tut.fi/demo/
Initially it was decided to compile a demonstration version of the information system. The aim of the demonstration version was to illustrate the content and structure to be included in the final system. To discover the actual needs for the information the initial version was tested with a group of TKL’s member companies.
First the products defined in the 2nd phase of the project were expanded toinclude a wider range of products which were then divided into product groups. The defined product groups were Machines (metal- and woodworking), Lifting and Transport equipment, Vehicles, Process handling and Chemicals. The requirements resulting from legislation were then converted into practical operating instructions for companies. The aim of these instructions was to put the demands of legislation into a more understandable form. It was also specified whether the instructions apply to the importer, distributor and/or retailer. For more information the instructions are linked directly to the actual paragraph of the law.
The information needed for to the demonstration version was formulatedinto an Excel table. The information in the table was completed and the authorities were asked for comments. The information consisted of the practical operating instructions relating to the selected product groups. It did not include all the essential legislative demands and the format was kept simple.
After the demonstration version was completed it was tested with a group of TKL’s member companies. The response among the companies was positive. The companies felt that such a practical way of finding out information about the legislation is would be useful.
Phase 8; Compiling a final version of the information system
After testing of the demonstration version of the information system the next phase was to define and compile the final version. The final information system is being compiled at the moment. It will be published via TKL’s extranet pages for their member companies.
During development of the information system the participants have beenfinalising the electronic table, which had been created for the demonstrationinformation system. The number of product groups has increased substantially. In addition, the system has been expanded to include product sub-groups and actual products. This also adds the amount of legislation covered.
In this phase it is also necessary to define how to maintain and develop theinformation system in the future. The problem is not the actual compiling of the system but how to keep it updated and how the network of participants continues to work in the future.
The system needs to be easy to use both for the maintainer and for the end users. In addition, to retain the existing users the information in the system must be reliable and regularly updated. TKL already has a system to collect upcoming legislation. They will continue to operate the existing system which will in future be linked to the complete information system as described here. When the upcoming legislative demands have been captured they will be added to the new system. The administrators of TKL’s existing legislation service will also administrate the new information system. The network will also help with the task by, for example, interpreting demands of the legislation.
CONCLUSIONS
One aim in this project was to develop a practical way of collecting and presenting legislative information concerning safety issues for importers of technical products. The motive for TKL was to improve the competitiveness of their member companies. When companies have early information about any upcoming legislation they have opportunity of reacting in time. Changes can have a positive influence on an importers’ business. This requires that as many people as possible in the company have the necessary information.
The authorities’ participation makes the network created a new and functional concept. The network was able to gather the information about the safety legislation and to interpret the true effects of the legislative safety requirements for companies. The authorities have various other duties, which created some problems for the time management of this project. However, the other participants in the network could carry out some of the tasks on behalf of the authorities.
The network of participants will be required to maintain the information system in the future. It will also be possible to expand the system to cover a wider range of legislation and branches of industry. This current version is compiled for the importers of technical products but other trade associations could use this system as a model for a system of their own. This will also decrease the stress on the authorities when the companies have the opportunity of finding the necessary information centrally. However, the information given on the system is unofficial. The maintainer does the final interpretation.
REFERENCES
- 1. LettoVanamo, P. Euroopan unionin oikeus Suomessa. Suomi 5 vuotta Euroopan unionissa. Eurooppatiedotus, Eurooppatietoa. (In Finnish). (The Community Law in Finland. Finland 5 years in the EU. Europeinformation). No. 172. 2000. http://www.eurooppatiedotus.fi/doc/fi/julkaisut/suomi5vuotta/letto vanamo.html. Available on March 1st 2008.
- 2. Ministry of Finance. (2008). Suomi.fi. Lait ja asetukset. (In Finnish). (Finland.fi.
Legislation and statutes) http://www.suomi.fi/suomifi/suomi/aiheet/laki_ja_oikeusturva/lait_ja_asetukset/index.html. Available on February 29th 2008.
- 3. The European Commission; Eurooppalainen portaali pkyrityksiä varten. (In Finnish) (European portal for small and middlesized companies) http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sme/international_fi.htm. Available on March 2nd 2008.
- 4. De Michelis, G., Dubois, E., Jarke, M., Matthes, F., Mylopoulos, J., Papazoglou,
M.P., Pohl, K., Schmidt, J., Woo, C. & Yu, E. (1998) Cooperative Information Systems: A Manifesto, in Pazoglou, M.P. & Schlageter, G. (editors) Cooperative Information Systems: Trends & Directions. (pp. 315-363). Academic-Press, New York.
Papers relacionados
