Muliti User App - How to notify a user a reqest has been made

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VB9

Hi
Im doing a small application for stock control using VB 2011 Express (Windows forms application - linked to an Access Database). There are a handfull of users in the company, who need to request and receive stock from one another. I guess this app would lend itself to a web based user interface, and a real database (SQL or similar) but my coding experience is pretty limited to VB and windows forms so decided to go with what little I know about that. To try to keep the question short, one example would be:

1) User A requests stock.
2) Write details of requested stock to a table, with status 'Requested'
3) User B's app polls the database looking for items in that table with status 'Requested'
4) If it finds something requested, display something on User B's interface
5) User B issues the stock, and the status of the item is changed to 'Sent'
5) User A accepts the stock, and the status is changed to 'Accepted'

My concerns are:
1)How will Access handle a few different users polling the database (Maybe once a second?)
2) If two apps try to query the same table at the same time, will one of the queries crash?

I was wondering if there is a simple way for the applications loaded on each users PC's to communicate directly with one another over the company network, of if there was any other more elegant way of achieving this type of interaction?

Any comments or ideas would be welcomed!

Thanks

R