Developing solutions and following up results

The developments of people, organisation, routines, instruments and tools have to proceed in parallel. The selection of adequate computer software is a central issue. We will here recommend a strategy for the development of computer support that uses the company s standard PC software. There are also other possibilities. A common solution is to buy a proprietary SHE information system. Still another alternative is to develop new software to suit the company s specific needs by applying a software-engineering approach. 

We here choose the first alternative in order to help the users by using a familiar computer environment, and to integrate the development of the SHE information with the general IT development in the company. The second alternative is cost-efficient in the short run. The key point in refraining from the selection of this solution is to make management feel ownership of the new system rather than seeing it as an external imposition. Experience shows that it is difficult to reach potential user groups beyond SHE experts with a proprietary system. 

In a traditional software-engineering approach, the definition of user needs and software-design specifications come early in the development process. At this stage, the users may not have the necessary knowledge and experience to be able to define their needs. Only after using the system for a while do they know what they actually want. It may then be too expensive to change 

There are economic, legal and organisational issues that have to be addressed in the implementation process. It may be difficult to prove that the benefits of the improvements in the SHE information system are merited from an economic point of view. Their costs are relatively easy to calculate. They include investments in hardware and software and operational expenditures for running the system, training of users, etc. There are immediate benefits from the improvements that also are relatively easy to assess. They include administrative rationalisation through more efficient administration of reports. Ideally, these immediate benefits should exceed the costs, since the more long-term benefits of a reduced risk of accidents are more difficult to 

Each step in the development process should be followed up through adequate evaluations. It is here not only a question of collecting the evaluations and experiences of the users. Development work should also be followed up through the establishment and monitoring of specific criteria, see Chapter 11 for examples. 

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