The follow-up committee and the stakeholders Made up of OHS network stakeholders/end-users, the follow-up committee is a group that provides its field expertise to researchers during the definition, development and the realization of the research, and then in the transfer and application of the results in workplaces. More specifically, the follow-up committee contributes to the achievement of the following goals: Composition of the committee
The committee’s composition varies with the projects and the phases of the research and knowledge translation cycle. A committee is created by taking into account the following: - respect for worker-manager representation;
- representativity of people who can play the role of intermediary during phase III of the cycle, namely the tranfert and application of knowledge;
- diversity of viewpoints.
The follow-up committee’s role and mandate
The follow-up committee’s mandate differs with the phases of the research and knowledge translation cycle. Depending on the nature of the research, the stakeholders’ involvement, and the complexity of the workplaces concerned, the follow-up committee takes part in one or more phases of the cycle. Currently, 78% of research projects have follow-up committees.
138 organizations involved in the follow-up committees 
Phase I
Anchoring in the workplaces’ needs and realities
The follow-up committee explores the relevance and usefulness of some research. This exploration can begin with structured exchanges between a group of stakeholders/end-users and researchers. It can also be initiated by one researcher who wants to validate the relevance of submitting a project to the workplaces directly involved. During this phase, the committee’s role is to ensure that the intent of the research is based on the workplaces’ needs and realities. During this phase of the cycle, the committee’s mandate is to: - understand the objectives of the research;
- explore with the researchers the links between the intent of the research and the field realities;
- validate the relevance of the preliminary research project from the viewpoint of the workplaces;
- validate the workplaces’ interest in participating actively in the research project;
- determine the workplaces most likely to benefit from these results.
If this step confirms the interest in carrying out a research project, the committee can then: - formally commit to supporting the research proposal submitted to the IRSST;
- accompany the researchers in the research work planned for the second phase of the research and knowledge translation cycle.
Phase II
Research
During the second phase, the follow-up committee’s role consists of ensuring, during regular meetings, that the work in progress always meet the workplaces’ needs. In this phase, the follow-up committee’s mandate is to: - ensure that the objectives are still consistent with the workplace’ needs;
- share their practical knowledge;
- support the researchers in solving problems that can arise in the field;
- familiarize themselves with the research results and comment on them;
- ensure that the results obtained are useful and usable by the practice settings.
Phase III
Transfer and application of knowledge (research results)
For the third phase of the cycle, the aim of the follow-up committee is to promote the research by furthering the transfer, appropriation and use of the results by the workplaces likely to benefit from them. This means defining the best dissemination strategy, adapting the results to the target audiences, and seeing that the stakeholders appropriate the results and transfer them within their network. In addition, the committee identifies mechanisms for following up on the translation and on the simple means of data collection in order to evaluate the extent to which the results are used. For this third phase, the committee’s mandate includes one or more of the following objectives: - collaborating in defining the best knowledge translation strategy;
- participating in the adaptation of the research results to workplace realities through the production of practical guides, technical fact sheets, databases, training courses, posters, popularized articles, Web sites, video documents, etc.;
- contributing to the choice of means of dissemination and to the development of the knowledge translation plan;
- committing as stakeholders to the translation of the results to the workplaces;
- identifying the other potential intermediaries
Phase IV
Impact assessment
For the fourth phase of the cycle, the follow-up committee can participate in the evaluation of the translation activities. This involves documenting, first, the use of the research results by the workplaces (common step in phases III and IV) and, second, the actual outcomes for OHS. For this phase, the committee pursues the following objectives: - becoming familiar with the evaluation objectives and commenting on them;
- establishing mechanisms for following up on translation;
- collaborating in the development or choice of simple data collection tools relating to the use of the results in the targeted workplaces;
- facilitating the collection of data in the field;
- commenting on the data collection tools;
- becoming familiar with the results of the evaluation and giving its viewpoint;
- helping to determine recommendations for reinforcing and encouraging good translation practices.
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