Standards information resources

The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) has a 30-year history of involvement with process safety for chemical processing plants. Through its strong ties with process designers, builders, operators, safety professionals and academia, the AIChE has enhanced communication and fostered improvement in the high safety standards of the industry. AIChE publications and symposia have become an information resource for the chemical engineering profession on the causes of accidents and means of prevention. 

This section provides a select list of classic or standard texts, dictionaries, thesauri, glossaries, directories, handbooks, encyclopedias, databooks, and some new works that provide useful toxicology information. Online versions of some of these works are now being offered via site licensing agreements. The primary focus is on works that have been published or revised within the last several years. For information on texts published prior to 1995, consult Wexler s Information Resources in Toxicology (listed in the previous section). 

In healthcare, we are today at a crossroads of yet, another of many notable technical developments. Personal computers have become ubiquitous and easier to use for healthcare professionals and patients. The newly available mobile or handheld devices have become more practical for real-time computing. Through the Internet or hand-eld device, there is ready access to a patient s medical information. With these tools, the art of practicing medicine is truly about to change. An electronic information resource for the Internet and for handheld devices, as for other platforms, requires that the data meet specific standards of reliability. First DataBank information is tried and true, a tested, authoritative source of such information. 

Other Poison Information Providers. Other poison information providers must be qualified to understand and interpret standard poison information resources and to transmit that information understandably to both health professionals and the public. This requirement will be considered to be met if the person has an appropriate health-oriented background and has specific training and/ or experience in poison information sciences. While providers may be part-time staff or have a part-time commitment to the poison center, 100% of their time should be dedicated to poison center activities while assigned to the center. At all times, poison information providers must be under the on-site direction of a Certified Specialist in Poison Information, a qualified managing director, or the medical director these individuals may provide direction for no more than two poison information providers at one time. 

Modularity is obviously important for large information resources and when there is no or little support for filtering. Database applications for example offer such filtering capabilities. This does not hold for typical file-based data sets such as spreadsheets. In this case, the information or data can only be provided as a whole, except specialized interfaces for certain file formats are available. Standard data formats for scientific data allow the creation of standardized interfaces that are capable of modular access. 

A limited list of EE-related sites can be found at the WWW Virtual Library—Electrical and Electronics Engineering, http //www.cem.itesm.mx/vlee (accessed October 12,2010). The links are grouped under the categories of Academic and research institutions. Blogs, Information resources. Journals and magazines. Products and services, and Standards. The site also allows keyword searches in order to find relevant entries. 

Under this system, it is essential that data recorded by employers be uniform and accurate to assure the consistency and validity of the statistical data which are used by OSHA for many purposes, including inspection targeting, performance measurement under the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA), standards development, resource allocation. Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) eligibility, and low-hazard industry exemptions. The data also aid employers, employees, and compliance officers in analyzing the safety and health environment at the employer s establishment and is the source of information for the OSHA Data Initiative (ODI) and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Annual Survey. 

It is easy to predict with confidence what shape repository services will take in the future. Both IBM and DEC have major product offerings which provide a foundation, and next steps for consolidated action may transpire through future Information Resources Dictionary System (IRDS) standards repository work being performed by the Product Data Exchange... 

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