Chapter 22 - Resources Information and OSH.docxVIP专享VIP免费原创优质

Chapter22-Resources:InformationandOSHINFORMATION:APRECONDITIONFORACTIONJukkaTakalaProductionentailshumanactivitiesthatresultinmaterial,energy,informationorotherentitiesthatareusefultoindividualsandtosociety;itsdevelopmentdependsuponthecollection,processing,disseminationanduseofinformation.Workmaybedescribedashumanactivitydirectedtopre-setgoalsintheproductionprocess,withtoolsandequipmentservingasthematerialinstrumentalityofsuchactivity.Butitshouldbeborneinmindthatintheworkprocesstheinformationthatiscontinuallyreceivedandorganizedaffectsanddirectstheprocess.Theworkprocessitselfcontainsinformationintheformofaccumulatedexperiencewhichisstoredbytheworker(asknowledgeandskills);embodied,asitwere,intools,equipment,machineryand,inparticular,bycomplextechnologicalsystems;andmadeexplicitthroughthemediumofinformationprocessingequipment.Theworkprocessisaconcreteanddynamicwayofusinginformationtoachievecertainsetobjectives.Thesafetycomponentsofthisinformationareequallydistributedamongthevariouselementsofwork—theworker,thetoolsandequipment,theworkingenvironmentandtheobjectsofproduction;indeed,safetyinformationshouldideallybeanintegralpartoftheinformationneededfortheproductionitself:insteadof“howtoproducesomething”itshouldbe“howtosafely(withlowerrisk)producesomething”.Severalexperimentshavedemonstratedthatinformationlinkingsafetytoproductionisnotmerelynecessarybutisincreasinglybeingperceivedassuch.Productionentailsnotonlytheobvioustechnicalcreationofnewoutputoutofeithernaturalrawmaterialsorpre-existingman-madematerialsandgoods,butalsoincludesthemodificationandreorganizationofinformationthatpertainstothematerialproductionprocessandtotheinformationcycleitself.Thescopeoftheinformationelementofadevelopingproductionprocessincreasesrapidly.Followingthefamiliarpracticeofdividingtheprocessofproductionintothreeparts,namely,energyproduction,materialsproductionandinformationproduction,wemayalsodivideitsproductsintosimilarcategories.However,theseareusuallyofamixedcharacter.Energyisgenerallycarriedbymatter,andinformationiseitherassociatedwithmatter—printedmatter,forinstance—orwithenergy,suchaselectricalchargeortheopticalandelectronicimpulsescarriedbyfibre-opticlines.But,unlikematerialproducts,informationdoesnotnecessarilyloseitsvaluewhenitundergoesreproductiveprocesses.Itisaproductwhichcanbereproducedinmass,yetitscopiescanbeexactlyasvalidastheoriginal.SafetyInformationandItsUseinProductionSystemsSafetyinformationrangesoveragreatbreadthofsubjectsandmayassumeacorrespondinglygreatvarietyofforms.Itcanbeclassifiedastowhetheritconveysstatisticalfigures,descriptiveinformation,referencedata,originaltextsorquantitativeorqualitativematter.Itmaybeastatisticaltablesettingforthacollectionofquantitativedatarelatingtoaccidentincidence,orachemicalsafetydatasheet.Itmaybeacomputer-readabledatabase,ready-to-usematerials(includingillustrationsanddrawings),modellegislationandregulations,ortheresearchresultspertainingtoaparticularsafetyproblem.Historically,mostinformationneedswerecoveredbyconventionalcommunicationmethods,oralandwritten,untiltherelativelyrecentadventofphotography,radiocommunication,films,televisionandvideoproductions.Althoughthemethodsofmassmediaweretofacilitateelectroniccopying,theyneverthelesslackedselectivity.Plainly,notallpeopleneedorareinterestedinthesametypeofsafetyinformation.Librariesand,in...