At 7:27 am +1100 19/3/06, Tim Churches wrote:
> Participation is not restricted to standards australia committees,
except in properly constituted committees which are that way to ensure
balance of interests are represented. Like many interest groups, people
who are actually interested are able to participate. And the open public
comment period is open to all comers with any views.
My view is that reform is needed to ensure that the membership of the
committees is representative and diverse (not the same people on every
committee), and to enable input from interested parties to be harnessed
at a much earlier stage of standards development, and to provide a
mechanism by comments are acknowledged, discussed and accounted for
(even if they are ultimately not reflected in the nascent standard).
The Standards Australia has had joint/open committee meetings in the
last two years - open to all comers and widely advertised.
Actual committees do have diverse membership and Stadards Australia
project managers have a duty to ensure balance and appropriate
representation.
The mechanism by which comments are acknowledged, discussed and
accounted is well developed and in fact many/most comments are
ultimately reflected real standards, as people who have made comments
could attest.
The biggest problem is that participants must be "voluntary" - ie not
be paid for by Standards Australia - so they spend their own or their
company's or their organisation's time. There is always room for more
volunteers.
Please feel free to write to Standards Australia with any concerns.
There is always room for improvement in any organisation.
Ian.
--
Dr Ian R Cheong, BMedSc, FRACGP, GradDipCompSc, MBA(Exec)
Health Informatics Consultant, Brisbane, Australia
Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
(for urgent matters, please send a copy to my practice email as well:
[EMAIL PROTECTED])
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