Services for Members

• Enquiry service – Ask us a question on anything health and safety-related. Let us do the searching for you. • Literature searches – we can provide you with lists of books and articles on specific topics, and you can then choose to borrow the books or have copies of articles sent to you. • Search the Infocentre’s electronic database of holdings via the Members’ website. • Borrow from the collection’s 26,000 health and safety-related books/articles. • Receive regular news and new publication alerts via email and the website.

As a Member, a major benefit is free use of RoSPA's Information and Advisory Services.

Enquiry Service
The RoSPA Infocentre offers an extensive enquiry service, answering around 550 health and safet- related questions every month. Infocentre staff, the majority graduates in Information Science and trained in health and safety, are available during office hours to deal with any questions you may wish to ask.

You may contact the Infocentre by telephone, fax or email, and we will always aim to answer your question within 48 hours (depending on the nature and depth of your enquiry). Click to view our service standards for Members ( PDF format 31kb). We do not operate a voice mail service, so if you telephone between 9am and 4pm, you will always speak to a person. Please have your Membership number handy when you contact us.

If further advice is needed, Infocentre staff may call upon the expertise of our team of RoSPA advisers and consultants. If in-depth advice is required, this may be charged for as a consultancy service*.

*Information Centre staff endeavour to assist all enquirers with up-to-date and accurate information. However, they cannot undertake to interpret legislation nor to advise on specific problems. RoSPA advisers or consultants may be able to assist with verbal interpretation, but this is subject to availability. If in depth advice is required, this may be charged for as a consultancy service.

Borrow from the Infocentre
RoSPA Members may borrow items from our collection (with a few exceptions, such as British Standards and specifications) for up to three weeks. Loans are restricted to five books or reports at a time to make sure we can help as many Members as possible. In addition, Members may request copies of journal articles held within the centre. There is no additional charge for this service.

Members are also welcome to visit us at our offices in Birmingham. If possible, please contact us in advance to arrange a mutually convenient time.

Resources
The Infocentre is unique in that our resources cover all aspects of health and safety: workplace, home safety, road safety, safety education, product safety, water safety and leisure safety. We also have a range of general reference sources and trade/product directories, but if your enquiry falls outside the scope of our resources, we will put you in touch with other organisations or information services that may answer your query.

Infocentre staff use a range of electronic resources to supplement the information held within the centre. We take a range of CD-ROM products in our core safety fields and use commercial host service, Dialog, which give us additional access to hundreds of other databases. We use the Internet extensively and subscribe to a number of web-based services.

Members’ website and web database
The Infocentre section of the members’ site provides information on all the services we provide. It includes a Latest News section where alerts and new acquisitions bulletins are regularly added. There is also a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section covering many areas of health and safety. This knowledge base is updated regularly with new questions and answers.

The information service is interactive. RoSPA Members may search the Infocentre's holdings database for details of books, journal articles, guidance, conference proceedings and reports. The database:

• Enables you to search for details of books and articles within RoSPA's information centre
• Searchable 24 hours a day, 7 days per week from anywhere in the world via the Member Zone
• Covers all areas of safety including workplace, home, water, leisure, education, product and road
• Includes reports, research, conference proceedings, articles from academic and consumer journals, standards, legislation and guidance
• Established in 1988 and includes approximately 26,000 records
• Updated regularly, with around 100 new items added every month.

RoSPA Members can access the service by simply logging on to the Member Zone, www.rospa.com/members Membership number and password is needed to do this), and click on the links to the Infocentre. Most documents can be ordered via an online form and loaned or photocopied (subject to copyright restrictions).

Infocentre Resources The Infocentre can answer a broad range of enquiries – from requests for legislation/guidance to details of product manufacturers/suppliers. Infocentre staff carefully select the appropriate sources to consult. In addition to the Infocentre's own web database, the following is a selection of the resources we have on hand to answer your query: Useful websites database - compiled and regularly updated by Infocentre staff, listing over 250 quality websites from the UK and beyond. Safety products – a database compiled by Infocentre staff, listing over 600 safety-related products and 270 supplier/manufacturer details. Products range from drug testing devices and larger sized protective footwear to defibrillators and risk assessment software. Croner CCH – Croner publications in the field of workplace health and safety, environment, safety education, case law and road transport operations. SAX's Dangerous Properties of Industrial Materials on CD-ROM (11th Edition) – the only reference that combines data on toxicological, fire, reactivity, explosive potential and regulatory information for approximately 26,000 substances. OSH-PLUS Online – a full-text database of EU and UK occupational safety and health legislation. Includes a comprehensive set of ACoPs, guidance and advice documents from the Health & Safety Executive (HSE). OSH-Update – an Internet service that contains ten bibliographic databases from worldwide authoritative sources, including NIOSHTICS2 from the US National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. Encyclopaedia of Road Traffic Law and Practice – covers all aspects of road traffic law and practice comprehensively. Reproduces relevant legislation and includes summaries of case law and separate sections devoted to procedure and EU materials. Transport Online – a comprehensive source of international transportation information. Consists of two bibliographic databases, International Transport Research Documentation (ITRD) and the Transportation Research Information Services database (TRIS). Coverage is from 1968 – present. Lawtel legal database – a source for case law going back to 1980, along with full-text legislation.

If you have an information enquiry, or you would like help with accessing the Infocentre database, please contact us in the following ways:
Members' Helpline: 0121 248 2064
Fax: 0121 248 2001
Email: Infocentre@rospa.com

Member Zone and holdings database: www.rospa.com/members

To access this information in a PDF format, read the Infocentre Brochure (PDF format 90kb)