Sharing of Information

M. he investigation of accidents and near misses (that is, close calls) provides opportunities to learn how to prevent similar events in the future. Accident investigations, including detailed descriptions and recommendations, are commonly shared within the chemical industry. Many professionals believe that this sharing of information about accidents has been a major contributor to the steady improvement in safety performance. 

This joint Workshop on odours is a good example of the type of co-operation, and sharing of information on a common problem, which can be of great mutual benefit to both sectors. 

The basic principle on which all the networks operate is that, no single country has the resources to carry out all the technological and scientific research necessary to maintain progress in any subject. Therefore, a well defined international co-operative research and development programme which encourages the sharing of information and avoids the unnecessary duplication of work and resources would be of benefit to all those involved. 

The author gratefully acknowledges helpful discussions with and sharing of Information by Messrs R A. Anderson,... 

They published their results but did not pursue their study further. These results hinted at similarities, and possible homologies, of the mitochondrial and hydrogenosomal metabolic machinery. The three groups had the opportunity to discuss their results at the Fifth International Congress of Protozoology in Clermond-Ferrand in 1973 establishing friendly contacts and subsequent sharing of information. Further intense discussions took place at the Second International Symposium on the Biochemistry of Parasites and... 

Other research activities related to residential exposure assessment currently being sponsored by the USEPA include the National Human Exposure Assessment Survey (NHEXAS) (website http //www.epa.gov/heasd/edrb/nhexas.htm). In addition, the USEPA concluded a Co-operative Agreement, referred to as the Residential Exposure Assessment Project (REAP) with the Society for Risk Analysis (SRA) and the International Society of Exposure Analysis (ISEA) which resulted in a reference textbook (Baker et al, 2001) describing relevant methodologies, data sources and research needs for residential exposure assessment. The REAP and other efforts complement other USEPA initiatives, such as the development of the Series 875 guidelines, and will facilitate a sharing of information and other resources between the USEPA, other Federal and State agencies, industry, academia and other interested parties. 

Beyond the duty of transparency, however, there are also other important obligations of international co-operation established by PEPAT. For instance. Art. 6 provides for duties of assistance to other parties in the preparation of EIA (para. 1 b) sharing of information that may be helpful to other parties in planning and conducting their activity in the Antarctic Treaty area with a view to the protection of the Antarctic environment and dependent and associated ecosystems (para. 2) cooperation with parties which exercise jurisdiction in areas adjacent to the Antarctic Treaty area with a view to ensuring that activities in the Antarctic Treaty area do not have adverse environmental impacts on those areas (para. 3). 

The chemical industry spans many countries of the world and chemicals are used worldwide. Despite the plethora of regulations on chemicals, many countries do not have adequate legislation or the necessary infrastructure to ensure their safe use. To help overcome this situation there is an international initiative for wide sharing of information and to provide support through training programmes and technical expertise. The Rotterdam Convention on the prior informed consent procedure for certain hazardous chemicals and pesticides in international trade, adopted in 1998, is an example. Other international agreements worthy of mention... 

In 1996, the DHHS passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to facilitate the sharing of information while protecting patient confidentiality (medical records) subsequently, associated privacy regulations were issued in 2000 (Privacy Rule). Amendments to the Privacy Rule were proposed on March 27, 2002, to address research-related situations, and become effective on April 14, 2003. In essence, the Privacy Rule is the governing law for the use and disclosure of individually identifiable protected health information (PHI) by covered entities, defined as health care providers, health plans, or health clearing houses. HIPAA-compliant consents that include elements specified in federal regulations (45 CFR 164.508) will have to be provided by covered entities that carry out the activities of health care payment, treatment, or operations (PTO). Clinical research-related uses and/or disclosures of PHI beyond PTO will require that a specifically defined authorization be obtained from a research subject. HIPAA-compliant authorizations will have to include the following core elements ... 

Gradually partnerships were formed between life sciences and fine chemicals industries, the latter having resources to respond to the specific needs in terms of products and technologies. The relationship between life sciences and fine chemicals industries has evolved from a vendor-purchaser approach to a strategic partnership. There has been a much broader sharing of information, be it with respect to cost improvement programs or to commercial outlook for the product(s). Both partners focus their resources on their core competencies. 

In addition, clear communication of scientific endeavors allows scientists to learn from the work of others. Such sharing of information speeds the process of scientific research and development. 

With respect to processes, there were improved attempts and greater focus on assuring standardization of assays, sharing of information, as well as biased compound libraries across project teams, thus facilitating common... 

Develop robust design tools that are more user-friendly and accurate, especially with complex phenomena such as turbulence and create a unified code to allow sharing of information more easily and speed development. 

The needs of the organization will determine the type of EDMS to be implemented. Systems can be local or, more commonly, distributed throughout the company to maximize the sharing of information and, hence, benefits. This distribution can be site wide or even intersite using local area networks (LANs) and/or wide area networks (WANs). The validation of such networks is covered in Chapter 12 of this book. Many systems are client-server based and may use a Web browser to provide read-only access into the system. The latter is changing with the introduction of Web-based interactive packages. Figure 10.1 provides an example of EDMS architecture for a multiuser distributed system. 

CAD, CAE, and electronic interchange of technical data facilitate the sharing of information and have further potential for supporting concurrent engineering, particularly in later development stages. 

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