Hi David,

I have been involved in the US in workshops, using complexity thinking,
to improve workplace safety.
In a place called Washington, Iowa (that is not the main Washington) one
of the key issues at the site was absence due to 'sickness'. One outcome
of the workshop was to look at the personnel policy, for instance, in
relation to this.

I have copied Dick and Claire Knowles on this, who were key players (as
management consultants) in the workshop.

I can give you some information on this, on the process we used, etc.
The idea for me is that when looking at issues from a complexity angle
you will find that ALL IS INTERCONNECTED. This makes it (by definition)
impossible what would emerge as actions to take to improve the
situation.

At another workshop in the US, the biggest issue appeared to be that the
people from Mexican descent did not flush the dirty toilet paper, but
threw it in the toilet cabins... It is all in a (two) day's work :-)

Regards,

Frank Smits
Symphoenix Ltd
Tel: +44 (0)1732 450 495
Mobile: +44 (0)7715 423 150
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Website: www.symphoenix.net


-----Original Message-----
From: Complexity and chaos theories applied to primary medical and
social care [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
david mills
Sent: 10 December 2002 22:26
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Complexity and Occupational Medicine

I have been lurking for a while in this list and find it very
interesting.
I wondered if anyone has come across the application of complexity to
Occupational medicine in their travels?
I am particularly interested in the areas of interaction between
Personnel
policies and employees behaviour with respect to sickness absence.
Another
area would be employee behaviour in relation to health promotion and
surveillance in large businesses.
Many Thanks