The term "cooperate" requires the willingness of at least two parties to work together. While there are minimal legal standards that require all employees to cooperate with employers in fulfilling specific legal requirements, there is much greater potential with cooperation used in the wider sense of "working together".

In its simplest form, cooperation involves things working in harmony, side by side. This is different from hierachical control, which depends very much on telling people what to do and expecting them to follow, cooperation requires some give and take on both sides. This encourages people to put a bit more effort in, rather than just carrying out tasks functionally.

This means that there should be a two-way health & safety system, whereby difficulties in implementation of control measures can be shared. Problems shared are easier to deal with.