What should we publish in PPHS?

Shortly after taking over as Editor of PPHS, IOSH carried out a small-scale survey of its members in March 2016. The aim of the survey was to provide us with a better idea of the type of content that IOSH members wanted to see in the journal. We received just over 2,000 responses from a spectrum of categories of IOSH members (CFIOSH, CMIOSH, Graduate, Technical, Associate and Affiliate members) working across a broad range of industries. The results of the survey indicated a roughly equal split between material focusing on policy (50% of participants) and practical (52%) aspects of OSH, with a slightly smaller percentage (44%) wanting more scientific contributions. Survey participants were also asked about specific types of content. The top five categories in this case were content covering: legal cases and legislation; good practice; industry-specific topics; construction; and health and well-being. Finally, we asked about topics that might be suitable for a PPHS special issue. In this case the top five topics were: construction; legislation; safety behaviour and culture; health and well-being; and risk management and assessment. At the beginning of this year I carried out a similar exercise, this time with our editorial board members. I asked them to suggest topics for the journal, alongside developments in the wider world of OSH that they viewed as potentially important to cover within PPHS in the next few years. A number of themes and research questions emerged from this consultation exercise. These included: