Final Report Summary - COMFOR (Collective work science approach to solving the common problems of occupational health and performance in European forest operations SMEs)
COMFOR aimed at developing an innovative knowledge transfer concept for SMEs in forest operations. This was achieved by providing seven tools and methods which will have a long term effect on health and performance, and which are tested, approved and acknowledged by contractors themselves. The concept was the result of continuous development work on the 'tools', based on repeated testing and evaluation by the partner SMEs, resulting in a focused user-friendly educative package. The development work was based on research activities carried out by the partner universities. Results of empirical studies, which started at the beginning of the project, are available in reports which contribute to the scientific knowledge about SMEs in forest operations.
The COMFOR tools and methods have already found their way into the forestry contracting sector due to extensive dissemination and training activities in the final period of COMFOR. Training concepts and packages were individually designed for the respective conditions in each of the ten participating countries. There has been widespread acceptance of the tools and they are already being considered for incorporation into a number of contractor training and certification schemes in the participating countries. A variety of multipliers for future implementation was mobilised and trained by the COMFOR team. This will ensure that the results of three year extensive cooperation between 21 partners from 10 countries will reach the target group SMEs in forest operations, and will contribute to their health and performance through improved economic viability.
The objective of COMFOR was to develop an innovative knowledge transfer concept for SMEs in forest operations. While current ergonomic research provides answers for healthier working practices which also improve performance there are still difficulties in putting science into practice for these businesses, who face practical and financial barriers to change their way of working, and who are not in a position to undertake research and development themselves.
The pan-European problem of poor occupational health and economic performance called for a collective solution. COMFOR transformed science into practice by researching and developing means and measures which will enable and encourage SMEs to adopt ergonomically sound working practices. COMFOR has trained the national forestry contracting associations in these methods of knowledge transfer, thus mobilising the results of the research to a wide body of forestry contractors in Europe.
The educational package 'the tools' are the seven training packages to improve health and performance, including a methodology for monitoring long term effectiveness. It is a system of educative packages which are connected to each other via a method for continuous development, the 'process'. In total, seven packages have been developed and customised, which means they have been adapted through a continuous development process over the three years of COMFOR into tools which correspond to the needs of SMEs in forest operations and are user-friendly in their application.
Each of the seven tools and the process are accompanied by explanation and instruction material, which enables a contractor to use the tools without further instruction by a trainer or consultant. However, it has shown in the COMFOR process, that even if the aim was to reduce complexity as far as possible, for many contractors it will be useful to have professional support in the application of this 'process'. The system is described in detail in the report 'Tested and proved knowledge transfer packages'.
All the tools have been translated into the participating country languages. They are available and possible to download at the COMFOR website http://www.enfe.net/comfor.htm.
The exploitation of the tools will mainly be the role of the national contractor associations (i.e. ENFE members). The implementation has already started during the project and further exploitation activities will immediately follow after the project end. Since exploitation aims at an outreach to as many contractors as possible, the applied RTDs in the consortium play a specific role in the exploitation. They are in all cases the leading multiplier and will use the tools in their enterprise development activities. Further, they also have, beside their research activities, a development branch, which enables them to carry out consultancy towards enterprises (this was, by the way, one of the reasons why they were chosen as partners in COMFOR).
The COMFOR tools will generally be provided royalty free to SMEs in forest operations. The main channel for dissemination is the COMFOR website, where they are free for download. This serves the intention that COMFOR wants to achieve the widest possible dissemination of the results, and thereby improve health and performance in forest operations, rather than gaining profit by selling the tools. It is the intention of ENFE, QfF and their respective membership to provide services to their membership SMEs, to support them in their economic development and viability. Therefore, the project products are accessible and affordable for SMEs and micro enterprises without economic barriers.
There is a considerable difference in the ways the tools will be exploited in the ten countries and in other countries in Europe. Initial reaction to the tools has been extremely favourable in all ten countries participating in the project. It is worth picking just three examples of potential future exploitation, in Finland the COMFOR results have been taken up by one of the major forestry insurers who are contributing to their development and dissemination to a wide section of the forestry contracting sector. In the Netherlands, the tools will be incorporated into an existing contractor certification scheme. In the United Kingdom, the tools, in whole or in part, are to be incorporated into the existing machine operator certification scheme during the current review process. During the project, the activities were focused on performing the tasks according to the work plan in the ten countries where COMFOR partners were based. Of course, it is intended to exploit the COMFOR results as wide in Europe as possible. Therefore, COMFOR will be promoted to all ENFE member organisations.
Like any investment in health and safety, the impact of the application of COMFOR results can not be measured on a short term basis. The general impact is that contractors, who use the COMFOR results, become aware of health problems in their enterprise, achieve awareness of the economic impact of health problems and the benefit of investment in ergonomics and work organisation. Further to this, COMFOR contributes to a continuous development of their enterprise, which on a long term will lead to economic benefits. The feedback from the partner enterprises and others involved in COMFOR trainings clearly supports these expectations.
The research results of the three universities have resulted in three research reports, which are already available as COMFOR reports, and also are being published in university publication series to become accessible for a wider scientific audience.
The three reports are: 'Ergonomic and economic efficiency in mechanised forestry', 'Impact of structural change on health and performance including an explanative model', 'Optimum educative techniques'.
COMFOR results have been published in a variety of articles and were presented in ten papers in scientific conferences. A world wide scientific community on forest operations and work science was addressed with two invited papers at the Third Forest Engineering Conference held in 1-4 October 2007 in Mont Tremblant, Quebec. Oral and poster presentations were given on various occasions, for example in the general assemblies of the contractors associations in all ten countries.
The participation in a panel discussion at the KWF fair in 2008, one of the most important forestry shows in Europe, addressed a broad audience of professional and scientists. A number of international seminars and meetings has been used to inform about COMFOR and its progress with poster and power-point presentations. An overview on publications is available and will be further updated on the COMFOR website.
The COMFOR tools and methods have already found their way into the forestry contracting sector due to extensive dissemination and training activities in the final period of COMFOR. Training concepts and packages were individually designed for the respective conditions in each of the ten participating countries. There has been widespread acceptance of the tools and they are already being considered for incorporation into a number of contractor training and certification schemes in the participating countries. A variety of multipliers for future implementation was mobilised and trained by the COMFOR team. This will ensure that the results of three year extensive cooperation between 21 partners from 10 countries will reach the target group SMEs in forest operations, and will contribute to their health and performance through improved economic viability.
The objective of COMFOR was to develop an innovative knowledge transfer concept for SMEs in forest operations. While current ergonomic research provides answers for healthier working practices which also improve performance there are still difficulties in putting science into practice for these businesses, who face practical and financial barriers to change their way of working, and who are not in a position to undertake research and development themselves.
The pan-European problem of poor occupational health and economic performance called for a collective solution. COMFOR transformed science into practice by researching and developing means and measures which will enable and encourage SMEs to adopt ergonomically sound working practices. COMFOR has trained the national forestry contracting associations in these methods of knowledge transfer, thus mobilising the results of the research to a wide body of forestry contractors in Europe.
The educational package 'the tools' are the seven training packages to improve health and performance, including a methodology for monitoring long term effectiveness. It is a system of educative packages which are connected to each other via a method for continuous development, the 'process'. In total, seven packages have been developed and customised, which means they have been adapted through a continuous development process over the three years of COMFOR into tools which correspond to the needs of SMEs in forest operations and are user-friendly in their application.
Each of the seven tools and the process are accompanied by explanation and instruction material, which enables a contractor to use the tools without further instruction by a trainer or consultant. However, it has shown in the COMFOR process, that even if the aim was to reduce complexity as far as possible, for many contractors it will be useful to have professional support in the application of this 'process'. The system is described in detail in the report 'Tested and proved knowledge transfer packages'.
All the tools have been translated into the participating country languages. They are available and possible to download at the COMFOR website http://www.enfe.net/comfor.htm.
The exploitation of the tools will mainly be the role of the national contractor associations (i.e. ENFE members). The implementation has already started during the project and further exploitation activities will immediately follow after the project end. Since exploitation aims at an outreach to as many contractors as possible, the applied RTDs in the consortium play a specific role in the exploitation. They are in all cases the leading multiplier and will use the tools in their enterprise development activities. Further, they also have, beside their research activities, a development branch, which enables them to carry out consultancy towards enterprises (this was, by the way, one of the reasons why they were chosen as partners in COMFOR).
The COMFOR tools will generally be provided royalty free to SMEs in forest operations. The main channel for dissemination is the COMFOR website, where they are free for download. This serves the intention that COMFOR wants to achieve the widest possible dissemination of the results, and thereby improve health and performance in forest operations, rather than gaining profit by selling the tools. It is the intention of ENFE, QfF and their respective membership to provide services to their membership SMEs, to support them in their economic development and viability. Therefore, the project products are accessible and affordable for SMEs and micro enterprises without economic barriers.
There is a considerable difference in the ways the tools will be exploited in the ten countries and in other countries in Europe. Initial reaction to the tools has been extremely favourable in all ten countries participating in the project. It is worth picking just three examples of potential future exploitation, in Finland the COMFOR results have been taken up by one of the major forestry insurers who are contributing to their development and dissemination to a wide section of the forestry contracting sector. In the Netherlands, the tools will be incorporated into an existing contractor certification scheme. In the United Kingdom, the tools, in whole or in part, are to be incorporated into the existing machine operator certification scheme during the current review process. During the project, the activities were focused on performing the tasks according to the work plan in the ten countries where COMFOR partners were based. Of course, it is intended to exploit the COMFOR results as wide in Europe as possible. Therefore, COMFOR will be promoted to all ENFE member organisations.
Like any investment in health and safety, the impact of the application of COMFOR results can not be measured on a short term basis. The general impact is that contractors, who use the COMFOR results, become aware of health problems in their enterprise, achieve awareness of the economic impact of health problems and the benefit of investment in ergonomics and work organisation. Further to this, COMFOR contributes to a continuous development of their enterprise, which on a long term will lead to economic benefits. The feedback from the partner enterprises and others involved in COMFOR trainings clearly supports these expectations.
The research results of the three universities have resulted in three research reports, which are already available as COMFOR reports, and also are being published in university publication series to become accessible for a wider scientific audience.
The three reports are: 'Ergonomic and economic efficiency in mechanised forestry', 'Impact of structural change on health and performance including an explanative model', 'Optimum educative techniques'.
COMFOR results have been published in a variety of articles and were presented in ten papers in scientific conferences. A world wide scientific community on forest operations and work science was addressed with two invited papers at the Third Forest Engineering Conference held in 1-4 October 2007 in Mont Tremblant, Quebec. Oral and poster presentations were given on various occasions, for example in the general assemblies of the contractors associations in all ten countries.
The participation in a panel discussion at the KWF fair in 2008, one of the most important forestry shows in Europe, addressed a broad audience of professional and scientists. A number of international seminars and meetings has been used to inform about COMFOR and its progress with poster and power-point presentations. An overview on publications is available and will be further updated on the COMFOR website.