Evaluation of the HELA training coordination portal’s ability to support communication and knowledge sharing between local authorities (LA) and health and safety executive (HSE) safety enforcement teams

Ford, NJ; Brown, JM; Williams, HJ

Abstract

The HELA Training Coordination portal was launched in October 2001. Initially it was developed as a means to facilitate the national coordination of training for Local Authority (LA) based health and safety enforcement officers. Subsequently a second phase, commencing in February 2002 and concluding in August 2003, sought to extend and augment the outcomes of phase 1 by expanding the functions of the web portal and developing its content to include a dedicated area for Priority Programme (PP) communications. A third and final phase (commencing in September 2003 and finishing in February 2005) was designed to build on and develop the use of the portal to assist LAs in their contribution towards achievement of the revitalising targets.

The aims of the phase 3 project were to:

Consolidate the operation of the portal in order to enable the improved communication facility between LAs, and between LAs and HSE, to ‘bed’ down and its advantages be realised in relation to both training coordination and the PP areas.
Investigate the potential offered by the portal to assist in addressing training needs arising from the priority programme initiative.
Explore the potential of the web portal to be further developed to support knowledge management for LA based health and safety enforcement teams.
Two evaluations were undertaken. The first, a process evaluation, aimed to assess the effectiveness of user interface improvements to the portal and the impact of the enhancements specifically designed to encourage further collaboration. The second, an output evaluation, assessed the effectiveness of the portal in terms of facilitating training in the PP areas for LA based health and safety enforcement officers and support for knowledge management and knowledge sharing by LA based health and safety enforcement officers.

Citation

Ford, N., Brown, J., & Williams, H. (2005). Evaluation of the HELA training coordination portal’s ability to support communication and knowledge sharing between local authorities (LA) and health and safety executive (HSE) safety enforcement teams

• Report Type: Project Report
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2005
• Deposit Date: Dec 19, 2008
• Publisher URL: http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrpdf/rr391.pdf
• Related Public URLs: http://www.hse.gov.uk/lau/hela/; http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/rr391.htm
• Additional Information: Additional Information : HSE research report 391. Prepared by the University of Salford for the Health and Safety Executive 2005.; Funders : Local Authority Unit of the Health and Safety Executive