Reinert, a doctor of physics, has known the PEROSH network since its inception. Over the last two years, he has served as deputy to the outgoing chairman, Didier Baptiste from the French INRS, and supported him in the steering work. Reinert has set himself challenging goals for his period of office. „If we really intend to avoid duplication of effort in Europe, we must network our researchers, particularly our younger colleagues, much more closely.“ This requires an exchange of expert personnel between the institutes, something he plans to promote in the coming years. He also considers lobbying of the European Commission’s bodies to be an important task. As he says, we will be awarded more EU money for OSH research only if we join forces. And if we articulate our concerns in the right way. For example, Reinert intends to make greater use of social media in order to convey the group’s messages and to ensure that companies benefit from them.
Whatever the changes, the proven work of PEROSH will continue. At present, the group is working on twelve joint research projects. Despite differences in some cases between the objectives of the partner institutes, Reinert intends to extend their common ground and launch more joint projects – including, and not least, at management level.
