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This empirical study examines how practitioners from the organizational functions of humanresources, occupational safety and occupational health services within a Finnish industrialorganization view the challenges that production supervisors face in their daily work. The articlepresents a formative intervention, which focuses on supervisors’ changing work and how theseorganizational support functions could collaboratively serve supervisors better, especially in theirtask of promoting well-being at work. The article approaches this collective learning effort fromthe framework of the Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), by examining how crossfunctionalcollaboration evolves and the transitions through which it develops in an interventionprocess. The development of collaboration is analysed through a process of collective concept andtool formation by following a cross-meeting trajectory of specific annual clock episodes. Anannual clock, a co-ordinating tool used in organizations to assist the yearly planning andmanagement of specific operations, emerged in the intervention as the practitioners’ attempt tosynchronize overlapping and inconsistent well-being related practices assigned to supervisors.The article presents a framework that can be applied in this kind of combined empirical analysisof tool development and the evolving collaboration. The analysis shows how the idea of the annualclock grew through multifaceted conceptualizations, in which it first had the status of a conceptualobject, then a collaborative tool, and eventually a script for becoming a novel cross-functionalpractice. Simultaneously, the mode of interaction expanded from a function-based co-ordination totask-oriented co-operation, and finally to communication.

This chapter presents a network-level developmental intervention conducted in an industrial corporation. It focuses on production supervisors' changing work and follows how practitioners from the organizational support functions of human resources, occupational safety, and occupational health services build collaboration with supervisors. The notion of “client understanding” provides a starting point for the study: in order to serve supervisors, the support functions need to understand the challenges in the supervisors' operational environment. Results show that attaining client understanding requires, firstly, joint analysis of the sources of the problems and, secondly, the adaptation of dynamic and systemic explanations for them. The study describes the process of how client understanding, in the form of making generalizations, expands during the intervention. The findings have practical relevance for evaluating and developing collaborative practices in networked multi-activity settings.

BackgroundDeveloping proactive safety culture in today’s dynamic and turbulent business environment calls for inspiring approaches and effective safety practices. The Zero Accident Vision (ZAV) is based on the belief that all accidents are preventable. It should not be understood as a target or a numeric goal but more widely as a journey where genuine commitment plays an important role. In Finland the Zero Accident Forum was founded in 2003 to support workplaces in promoting safety and health. In November 2015 it had 337 member organisations.Description of the problemIn 2015 the Forum started to develop its activity to the next level to better respond to the members’ needs. A new web portal is being developed to support more effective communication and learning. A question was raised whether the designed portal and its contents are what the members really wanted. To tackle this problem an agile development method was chosen as a method to get the member workplaces’ needs and ideas integrated in the new portal.ResultsTo have a reliable estimation of the effects of the new portal we will measure appropriate variables; the occupational accident frequency and the workplaces’ satisfaction with the service. During last review 2008–2012, the member workplace accident frequency had decreased by 46% while at national level the decreased was 7%. The updated review will show how the members have succeeded in accident prevention. Also a usability and satisfaction survey will be conducted in spring 2016. The results will show how well the customer needs were taken into account.ConclusionsThe new portal will support the Forum’s main function: networking between workplaces and learning together. In the presentation we will illustrate the benefits the new web portal brings to communication, learning and benchmarking within the network. By presenting the results we want to inspire other stakeholders to take an initiative and steps forward in building and developing learning networks in the field of OHS.