| New international courses Kaj Elgstrand Occupational Safety and Health in Practice Since 1993 the National Institute for Working Life has on several occasions arranged the international course "Occupational Safety and Health in Practice" in cooperation with the Swedish National Board of Occupational Safety and Health and Ifa Production Development AB. The courses have been sponsored by Sida, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. The courses have been one year each with the first course period in Sweden, followed by a 10-12 month period when the course participants carry out their projects in their workplace at home. The purpose of the course has been that the participants should learn to solve work environment and/or production problems and also understand the technical, economical, safety and health conditions necessary for these solutions. This should be achieved by learning to start up and follow through systematic actions for the improvement of the work environment and productivity; actions adapted to the situation in the participants’ home countries. Thus far we have had courses for participants from the following continents:
The courses have been more regional rather than international, i.e. the participants come from one continent. Several participants (up to five) have been accepted from each participating country. The experience from these courses has been very good. The learning could be geared toward a fairly homogenous environment in the form of culture, economy, and working life. That every participanting country was represented by several persons led to social and learning advantages. When composing the participant groups, we have strived for a mixture of specialist fields i.e. medical, technical, behavioral science as well as social science; a mixture of occupations in government organizations, private businesses, trade unions; and also a mixture of work responsibilities such as work environment experts, employers, trade union representatives, production managers, university teachers, and researchers. The logic behind this is that actions for change in work and work environments which reduce or eliminate risks for accidents and occupational diseases and contribute to an increased productivity, result from cooperation between these different specialists, roles and work responsibilities. Prior experience from this is good which can mostly be associated with the fact that the course is organized to encourage and make it possible for communications between the participants with different specialties, occupations, and work responsibilities. The course begins with an introductory period of five weeks in Sweden. The purpose has been to theoretically and practically highlight how work environment work is organized and operated in Sweden; how it can be organized with the goal of increased productivity; and to give concrete information on what result this work and these goals have given. An important factor has been that every course participant visits 6-10 Swedish factories and other workplaces for one-half to one day per factory. During this introductory course period the participants have received individual and group guidance for their individual projects which are to be carried out during the 10 months following the introductory period. The projects are supported by the tutor via phone, fax and in some cases, email. The courses are concluded with a two-week period arranged in one of the participating countries. During the closing period, the course contents have, through visits to factories and institutes, reflected back to the environment in which the course participants work. Furthermore, the course participants’ projects are presented, discussed and evaluated. In order for a particpant to receive a diploma from the course, he/she must be in attendance, actively participate, and present an approved project. Our experience from the course plan has been very positive. Certain improvments have been made following each course. These experiences and improvements have been documented in course reports. New course: Occupational Safety and Health & Development The course organizers, on behalf of Sida, are preparing a new revised version of the first course. The new version is aimed at an increased attainment of goals, i.e. an even more effective increase in the participants’ competence to carry out changes and practical development of work and work environment in their work responsibilities at home. In order to achieve this, more attention will be given to the individual projects. The time allowed for the participants to attend lectures, factory visits, etc. will not be increased from the present seven weeks. However, the total course time will be increased from one to two years. The introductory course period in Sweden will be reduced from five to four weeks and more time will be spent on project planning and preparations. After the first year a two-week period will be arranged in one of the participating countries. This period will be for control reports and tutoring of the projects. The course will be concluded two years after the course start with one week for final reports, discussions, and project evaluations in one of the participating countries. The extension of the course and the increased support for the participants’ projects should make it possible for the projects to successfully result in more efficient actions. The course plan can be seen as solid efforts for development. The new course plan creates a new component: production of printed course materials. The formal project report can be completed 3-4 months before the closing course period. This makes it possible for the participants to produce shorter and more concise text, and also visual presentations with examples of successful actions for work improvements, work environment, and productivity which can be used by the participants and others for dissemination purposes. The first course of this type "Occupational Safety and Health & Development" is being arranged for participants from Latin America and the Caribbean. The selection of the course participants will take into account not only their competence, but also their ideas for a project for change to be carried out within the scope of the course. The course will have 24 participants from eight countries. It starts in November 1998 and will be terminated in the beginning of 2001.
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