Prevecan´09 (2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks) by Observatorio Internacional de la Cultura Preventiva

Gobierno de Canarias ConsejerĂa de Empleo, Industria y Comercio

2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

Prevecan 09

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 25, 26 and 27 March 2009 Alfredo Kraus Conference Centre - Canary Islands

Gobierno de Canarias ConsejerĂa de Empleo, Industria y Comercio

contents INTRODUCTION INTERNATIONAL FORUM AND CANARY ISLANDS DECLARATION INTERVIEW WITH SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SECURITY ASSOCIATION OPENING CEREMONY MAGISTERIAL CONFERENCE INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT OF THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION (WHO)

May 2009 Published by General Directorate of Labour Council for Employment, Industry and Trade of the Government of the Canary Islands Coordination Canaries Institute of Work Safety (Icasel) Edition AyB Editorial Printed by Litografía Romero Legal Deposit TF-

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

08 10 14 14 18 20

PAPERS 22 RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE WORKPLACE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE LEGAL SYSTEM 22 Risk Management in the workplace in the framework of collective bargaining The problem of workers’ return to work after an occupational accident or disease The role of the compensation system to workers in risk management Risk Management in the Workplace from the point of view of the Work and Social Security Inspectorate IMMIGRANTS AND WOMEN IN THE AREA OF RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE WORKPLACE 33 Prevention and Immigration Women and Work Interview with the Director of the Department of Research and Information of the National Institute of Safety and Hygiene at Work NEW WORK ORGANISATION SYSTEMS IN RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE WORKPLACE 42 Teleworking and Prevention Risk Management when travelling PSYCHOSOCIAL RISKS 48 ‘Burn out’ in health and education Bullying in the workplace RISKS OF EXPOSURE TO PHYSICAL AGENTS 53 Thermal Stress In Greenhouses Preventing occupational risks of exposure to electromagnetic fields EMERGING RISKS 58 Emerging risks in construction works Interview with the Head of the Safety and Health Department of the Construction Work Foundation TRAINING IN RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE WORKPLACE 62 New Spanish official qualifications in risk management in the workplace Training in Europe RESEARCH AND INNOVATION IN RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE WORKPLACE 68 Innovation in research on machinery regarding occupational risk management PSYCHO-SOCIOLOGY AND ERGONOMICS AS INDEPENDENT RISK PREVENTING DISCIPLINES 71 Psycho-sociology as risk preventing discipline Contribution Of Ergonomics To Occupational Risk Management JUDICIAL ASPECTS IN OCCUPATIONAL RISK MANAGEMENT 76 Criminal liability of experts and coordinators in the application of the regulations on occupational risk management RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE WORKPLACE AT INTERNATIONAL LEVEL 80 Occupational Risk Management Strategies in the European Framework The Experience of Occupational Risk Management at International Level European Campaign in Occupational Risk Management OCCUPATIONAL RISK MANAGEMENT AND THE ENVIRONMENT 91 Prevention and the environment: business experience Occupational Risk Management and its Influence on the Environment PROMOTING PREVENTION CULTURE 97 Media and Risk Management in the Workplace Occupational Risk Prevention Awareness in Schools RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE WORKPLACE AND BUSINESS EXPERIENCE 103 Relevance of Occupational Risk Management in Business Organisations Business experience in corporate social responsibility NEW REGULATIONS FOR RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE WORKPLACE 109 New European Policy On Chemical Substances And Preparations Changes in the directive on machinery OTHER ACTIVITIES OFFICIAL CAMPAIGN MEETING OF THE MIXED EXPERTS COMMITTEE WORK SESSIONS REPORTS POSTERS MOBILE CLASSROOM VIDEOS PRACTICAL DEMONSTRATIONS STANDS

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OUR SPONSORS CLOSING CEREMONY APPENDIX

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rom the start of this term the Government of the Canary Islands has been aware of the special importance occupational risk management will keep on having throughout the world in the immediate future. This is why spreading the culture of risk prevention has been encouraged even more and it is a priority in our employment and work policies and has a special place at the social agreement tables we have set up with employers and trade unions. As a result of this concern and with the aim of creating universal awareness about the importance of safety and health in the workplace, we made the decision of widening the scope of the second Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks and went beyond the local scope of the first one. The result of Prevecanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;09 has been as encouraging as we had hoped. On the other hand and thanks to the International Forum, more than ten international organisations of the first order along with different institutions, employers and trade unions organisations, as well as state and autonomic enterprises, have taken part in the drawing up of the Declaration of the Canary Islands in support of the Declaration of Seoul on Safety and Health in the Workplace. Therefore we must congratulate all the people involved in the staging of Prevecanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;09 for their work and thank the effort made by the 31 speakers and the 21 persons taking part in round tables to be present at this convention and enrich it with their contribution. The World Health Organisation, the International Social Security Association and the International Labour Organisation are some of the international institutions present at this event, which placed the Canary Islands in the centre of international debate. It is now the duty of everybody to keep the ideas we have put forward, analysed and discussed in movement so that the impulse of Prevecanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;09 is not hindered due to the lack of involvement in the matter of many economic, social and even political agents in different areas of the world, as we must all encourage the culture of prevention. In this situation, the Government of the Canary Islands wants to continue, through this book, the work started between 25 and 27 March at the Alfredo Kraus Convention CentreAuditorium, so that the 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks is not the end of a long process of preparation which went on over two years but the beginning of a new current of thought that achieves the final goal of the Declarations of Seoul and the Canaries. This goal is no other than achieving that safety and health in the workplace be considered as one of the fundamental rights of Humanity through a continuous process of information and circulation that awakens collective awareness.

Paulino Rivero Baute

President of the Government of the Canary Islands

he current economic crisis is a chance to increase the resources invested in occupational risk management worldwide. Although this statement may sound paradoxical it was heard very often during the three days of the 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks.

In this book you will be able to see the deep analysis and reflection carried out at Prevecan’09 from all the different points of view to face problems and provide solutions in safety and health at work. But if we are realistic we must realise that in a global economy in crisis the first argument put forward by those who must guarantee that safety, whether they are politicians or employers, is the cost involved in applying this or that additional measure in order to achieve it. Thus, in an economy-based approach, we must pick up some of the different messages which were heard in the paper read and the round tables held at the Convention. The heads of the public administrations throughout the world have the duty of bringing to light the accounts of work accidents and occupational diseases from the point of view of the cost they imply to the system however cold this approach may seem regarding a problem of such social importance. It is therefore necessary to make all the agents of the productive process understand the competitiveness and economic loss a sickness leave implies for a company; the expenses many occupational diseases imply for workers themselves which due to inefficient or simply inexistent prevention measures, end up suffering a chronic disease which could have been avoided relatively easily; the very high cost work accidents and occupational diseases entail for public funds. At the present time and without overlooking that our priority must be to solve the lack of prevention culture in citizens’ health, we must also change the basic approach at political level and understand that a system which invests nine times more in treating work accidents and occupational diseases than in preventing them cannot be maintained for much longer. This is why I would like to invite those holding this book in their hands to read it carefully, evaluate which of all the proposals it includes can be applied in their area and think, in the mid and long run, about the benefits obtained by every economic unit invested in occupational risk management. This way the 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks will become an encouragement to safety and health in the workplace in all the Atlantic continents, a task we have already undertaken by making many contacts in order to spread the Declaration of the Canary Islands throughout our area.

Jorge Marín Rodríguez Díaz

Councillor for Employment, Industry and Trade of the Government of the Canary Islands

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

he success of the II Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks shows how necessary it is for administrations, economic and social agents and people in general to collaborate in the development of safety and health in the workplace.

Prevecan’09 is the result of two years of constant work done by employees of the Directorate General of Labour and the Canaries Institute of Occupational Safety. Their work made possible three days of round tables, papers and reports of the highest international level and the presence of the main organisations and institutions regarding risk prevention from Europe, Africa and America and outstanding experts in each of the areas dealt with. Regarding outstanding participations, we must make special mention of the important support given by the National Institute of Safety and Hygiene in the Workplace and all the companies, organisations and institutions which, despite the general complex economic situation, made an effort to be present in the over 80 stands available at the Alfredo Kraus Convention Centre-Auditorium. Thanks to these bodies we enjoyed exhibitions on the latest safety measures in work at heights, and above all, we managed to spread the goals of Prevecan’09 and draw the attention of many groups of students of Technical Colleges who had the chance to learn from the best world experts even before they go into the labour market. But it was perhaps more significant -apart from the official discussions, papers and forums- the interest shown by public and private companies and institutions in holding activities parallel to the official programme. And so a mixed technical committee was held between the Spanish Ministry of Labour and Immigration and the autonomous communities. There were also other subgroups of sector work, the project Stop Occupational Risks was presented, by which spanish micro-companies will have full advice on creating or hiring risk management services, and several meetings between private companies and committees were held as for instance that of the Participation Committee of Endesa or the organising committee of Ágora. The challenge now is to keep for the future the high rate of participation and involvement achieved at the II Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks taking it beyond the Islands. We are already working at it and have started to design and plan agreements and activities with several of the organisations present at Prevecan’09, especially to spread and deepen the message of the International Forum which, as a complementary activity, established the Declaration of the Canary Islands, which is already an international reference. We hope readers of this book follow the same path as far as it is possible and that they think of the Canaries for any future activities in favour of improving the safety and health of workers.

Pedro Tomás Pino Pérez

Director General of Labour of the Canary Islands Government

INTRODUCtion

The Canaries, international platform on occupational safety

disciplines, judicial aspects of risk management, risk management at international level, risk management in the environment, promoting the culture of prevention and business experience and the new regulations for occupational risk management. Declaration of the Canary Islands

Yolanda Pilar Rodríguez Bravo

Director of the Canaries Institute for Occupational Safety of the Government of the Canary Islands

he year 2007 was the start of a challenge for the Canaries regarding safety and health in the workplace with the I Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks as a forum where companies, employees, professionals, organisations, bodies and institutions met and exchanged experiences.

El Prevecan’09 turned the Canaries into an international forum on risk management in the workplace

The 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks brought together more than 1,100 participants

As we were committed to continue this project in the second half of the year 2007 the organisation of the 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks, Prevecan´09, was started with the aim to better the achievements of the first one through an international approach. This way the Canaries became a discussion platform on safety and health in the workplace between Europe, Africa and America at the 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks, Prevecan’09 which was held at the Alfredo Kraus Auditorium & Conference Centre from 25 to 27 March and brought together over 1,100 participants from all over the world. The aim of this meeting was to make people -both employers and employeesface the current economic situation that threatens occupational health and safety conditions. The event was organised by the Council for Employment, Industry and Trade of the Government of the Canary Islands in collaboration with the National Institute for Safety and Health in the Workplace (INSHT), the Canaries universities and the Work and Social Security Inspectorate. María Neira, manager of Public Health and Environment of the World Health Organisation (WHO), was the first person to take part on Wednesday 25 in the Scientific section of Prevecan’09, with a call to increase the still scarce investment in workplace safety management, pointing out that workers’ health is a productivity requirement, a message that was shared and spread many times by the other speakers during the meeting. In general terms, speeches could be divided in topics related with occupational risk management in the contexts of labour, immigration and women, new work organisational systems, road safety, psychosocial risks, training, risks for exposure to physical agents and emerging risks. The papers read also dealt with risk management training, research and innovation, psycho-sociology and ergonomics as independent prevention

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

Apart from the scientific section, at the 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks more than 10 international organisations subscribed the Declaration of the Canary Islands on Risk Management in support of the Declaration of Seoul on Safety and Health in the Workplace which was subscribed in 2008. The Declaration of the Canary Islands is the result of the International Forum on the Culture of Prevention in the Workplace held on 27 March 2009 at the Gabinete Literario in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, which was attended by twenty members of different national and international occupational health and safety organisations and institutions as well as the most important trade unions and businesses associations and national and local bodies and companies. The subscribers of this Declaration see work safety and health as a fundamental human right and are committed to firmly spread and defend the culture of risk prevention in the workplace. On the other hand, more than ten business and institutional work sessions were held during the convention including the meeting of the mixed technical committee between the Labour and Immigration Ministry and the autonomous communities. After this meeting, which was held on Thursday 27 March, there was a press conference to present the project on advice to employers called Stop work risks, whose aim is for all microcompanies to have access to risk management information and services in a clear direct way. At the 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks there were also areas where participants could take active part such as the reports area, posters and audiovisual screenings about occupational risk management. In order to distinguish works presented in these different formats, a prize was given to the best poster, the best report and the best audiovisual work during the Conference closing ceremony.

The Convention Centre housed more than 80 stands of organisations related to occupational risk management

Meeting of the International Forum on the Culture of Prevention in the Workplace

Presentation of the campaign Stop

Occupational Risks

On the other hand, practical demonstrations on work safety were held outside the convention centre. The Building Labour Foundation played an active role at Prevecan guiding students through the different activities carried out at the Conference. They also brought in their Mobile Classroom on risk management. Finally, during Prevecan the Alfredo Kraus ConventionAuditorium Centre housed over eighty stands belonging to companies, organisations and institutions related to risk management in the workplace which displayed a full array of information to show the work they carry out in favour of risk management in the workplace.

Meeting Prevecan’09 included areas of active participation and practical prevention demonstrations

INTERNATIONAL FORUM AND DECLARATION OF THE CANARY ISLANDS

Toward occupational safety as a basic human right

he meeting of the members of the International Forum on Prevention Culture was held parallel to the II Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks and brought together fifteen of the most important occupational safety and health organisations in the world, which agreed a commitment to defend safety in the workplace with the aim to have it recognised as a basic human right.

Image of the International Forum meeting

Representatives of the International Forum and organisations and companies involved

The Gabinete Literario in Las Palmas housed the International Forum meeting

The International Forum was held on 27 March 2009 at the Gabinete Literario in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, an institution that since 1844 has played an important role in the cultural life of the Canary Islands. It was here where the Declaration of the Canary Islands on Occupational Risks Prevention was signed, a statement which deems fundamental to spread risks prevention culture and safety and health in the workplace as a basic human right. This new commitment is even more important at this time of world economic and financial crisis. The Government of the Canary Islands staged this International Forum during the Convention so that the Declaration subscribed is made firmer in the European, African and American countries and so that the premises and the contents of the debate given expression to in June 2008 in Seoul have a new reference in the Canary Islands. Specifically, the Declaration of the Canary Islands states that participants at the Forum commit themselves to join the subscribers of the Declaration of Seoul in their initiative to encourage a culture of health and safety management in the workplace all over the world. At this international meeting, the Canaries Government has had the cooperation of the International Social Security Association (ISSA), through its Secretary General, Hans-Horst Konkolewsky, who was the coordinator. Many national and international bodies and institutions related to occupational health and safety as well as unions and businesses associations also took part and stated their support to the Declaration of the Canary Islands. Regarding this, Octavio Calderín, expert in Labour Relations and Employment of Tenerife CEOE, argued that risk

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

The Canaries councillor for Employment, Jorge Rodríguez, opens the International Forum

Joon-Won Lee, of the Korean Safety and Health Agency during is intervention

management in the workplace is a key issue in the organisation and management of any business. “We are interested in supporting this commitment because through it the Canary Islands, in addition, become an international reference in risk management”.

the Canary Islands stating that: “Everything that is done to work together in favour of risk management in the workplace must have the support of our union. I wish governments and organisations got really involved in the commitments undertaken in this Declaration”.

For his part, Agustín Espino, as representantive of the Canaries Employers Confederation (CCE), justified their support to the Declaration of the Canary Islands: “We support it because we are convinced of the importance of prevention culture and because we acknowledge that safety and health in the workplace is a positive aspect both for working conditions and for productivity and social and economic development”.

Sandra Rodríguez Castro, territorial manager of the Insurance Association of Occupational Accidents (AMAT), justified her support of the Declaration of the Canary Islands by the fact that the mutual insurance companies are the “maximum champions of workers for whom we have our prevention societies”.

Trade Union Canarias UGT General Secretary, Alicia Rodríguez, wished to show by being present at the International Forum on Risk Management Culture her union’s commitment to the goals of this meeting. “Safety and health risk management in the workplace is something our organisation cannot overlook. Unfortunately there is not a prevention culture yet because it is not seen as a productive investment like for instance new technologies where there is wider awareness”. Juan Jesús Arteaga, Secretary General of Canaries Comisiones Obreras (CC OO), expressed his support of the Declaration of Max Lum, of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health of the United States

Regarding the companies involved with the goal of this Declaration, José María de Bona, deputy director de Iberia, stated that “companies like Iberia, of international scope, are more aware of the situation worldwide, as there are many differences regarding commitment to risk management; this is why anything that is done to increase the level of awareness and with it the protection of workers is fundamental”. Finally, Segundo Caeiro, Endesa’s Risk Manager, confirmed his company’s commitment to safety in the workplace and recognised that the principles of the Declaration of the Canary Islands are fully shared by Endesa and added: “We wish to spread this culture through the alliances we may establish with other companies”.

Commitment This new agreement believes that improving working conditions is of the utmost importance Support The declaration signed in Seoul has a new reference in the Islands 11

INTERNATIONAL FORUM AND DECLARATION OF THE CANARY ISLANDS

Members of the Forum

Organisations and companies involved

Jorge Marín Rodríguez

Paul Faupel

Councillor for Employment, Industry and Trade of the Government of the Canary Islands

International Network of Organisations of Safety and Health in the Workplace

Olaf Petermann

Pedro Tomás Pino Pérez

Special Prevention Commission of the International Social Security Association

Director General of Labour of the Government of the Canary Islands

Maureen Shaw

Mario Grau Ríos

Industrial Accident Prevention Association

Director of Relations with the European Union of the INSHT

Cord Jones

ORC Worldwide

Jesús Álvarez Hidalgo European Commission

María Neira

World Health Organisation

Jean Michel Miller

European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions

Larry Gibs

Pan-American Health Organisation

Valentina Forastieri

American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists

International Labour Organisation

Hans-Horst Konkolewsky

Max Lum

International Social Security Association

Nacional Institute for Occupational Safety and Health of the United States

Gabriel Martínez González

Luz Maritza Tennassee

Alicia Rodríguez Betancor

José Agustín Espino Flores

Octavio Calderín O’Donnell

Juan Jesús Arteaga Lorenzo

Pablo Yáñez Rodríguez

José María de Bona

Secretary General of Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT) of the Canaries

Representative of Tenerife Employers Confederation (CEOE)

Director of Acciona Risk Management Department

Vice-president of the Canaries Employers Association (CCE)

Secretary General of Comisiones Obreras (CC OO) of the Canaries

Director of Iberia Risk Management Services

Segundo Caeiro Ríos

Andrés Talavera del Pozo

Manager of Endesa Joint Prevention Service

Director of the Prevention Service of Spanish Airports and Air Navigation (Aena)

Enrique Manuel Turégano García

Vicente García Arteaga Lorenzo

Head of Safety of Spanish Oil Refinery (CEPSA)

José Sánchez Rodríguez

Manager of José Sánchez Peñate, SA

Sandra Rodríguez Castro

General Manager of Maquinarias Paco, SA

Pedro Estévez Domínguez

Human Resources Manager of Caja de Canarias

Territorial Director of the Association of Occupational Accidents Insurance Companies (AMAT)

Lee, Joon-Won

Inter-American Conference of Social Security

Korean Agency for Safety and Health in the Workplace

Carlos Javier Santos García

Latin American Social Security Organisation

José Agustín Espino, Vice-president of the Canaries Employers Association (CCE)

Mario Grau, of the National Institute of Safety and Hygiene in the Workplace

Members of the International Forum signing the Declaration of the Canary Islands

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

The signature of each member of the Forum is a commitment to defend safety and health in the workplace

Juan Jesús Arteaga, Secretary General of CCOO Canarias offers his support to the Declaration of the Canary Islands

Alicia Rodríguez, Secretary General of UGT-Canarias.

INTERVIEW

“This Conference reinforces the international dimension of prevention culture”

Limitations “Only 20% of the world population has access to a proper social security system”

“Prevention culture should start at school and continue throughout life”

Hans-Horst Konkolewsky

Secretary General of the International Social Security Association (ISSA)

ans-Horst Konkolewsky, secretary general of the International Social Security Association (ISSA), an organisation based in Geneva, has been a key person in the staging of the 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks (Prevecan) as coordinator of the experts committee. From this special point of view, Konkolewsky believes that “Prevecan reinforces the international dimension of a risk management culture”. La ISSA –based in Geneva (Switzerland)promotes social security the world over. Its General Secretary reminds us that only 20% of the world population has access to a proper social security system. “This is why we also send a message of solidarity to developing countries in particular”.

As an international association I thank the Government of the Canaries, particularly the Director General of Labour for having staged a forum including representatives from international organisations of all kinds in order to discuss an issue I am very concerned about, that is the spreading of prevention culture at the workplace.

How important is the Declaration of the Canary Islands on Work Risk Management? To the ISSA, the Declaration of the Canary Islands on Workplace Risk Management is fundamental and so is Prevecan as a whole, where we are attending this year as partners of the Government of the Canary Islands. It means a very important step in the concept of risk management because it promotes more deeply the reality of risk management which consists of integrating a more global approach and hence the union of the participants and the experience offered by the speakers of three different continents. There is no doubt this turns Prevecan into a most important event of international influence. We would like to contribute to increase this dimension in the next conventions.

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

Benefits Which social sectors should this “Good safety and health at work is good business for risk management culture reach? everybody” It should start at school and continue throughout life. If all social actors are not involved we shall not achieve our goal regarding the is that the right to a healthy and safe work spreading of this management culture. We life should be recognised as a human right need the whole society -not just employers, and the second one is that all sectors of insurers and employees- to get involved just society must work together to promote the as much as they get involved in protecting development of a real culture of prevention the environment or other issues which are in the whole population. deeply rooted in society. The challenge now is to put this commitment Will the commitment taken on by the into practice and encourage it, is it not? members of the International Forum on With the Declaration of the Canary Islands the Culture of Prevention really help to we have managed to consolidate the have health and safety at work recognised commitment taken on in Korea and have also involved new partners in this new global as a fundamental human right? The idea of this declaration is to continue movement or strategy for the management a decision made in of occupational risks. This is a very important 2008 in Seoul (Korea) pact for us and we do not want it to be just after the last world the signing of documents; on the contrary, summit on safety we wish to establish some instruments and health at the that translate into an improvement in risk workplace where management within companies and the rest for the first time a of society. This also means a step forward group of 46 top rank in the competitiveness of our economies. r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s As we have said, good safety and health at of businesses work is good business for everybody. policies and social security apart from But many companies believe risk inspection bodies management is an unnecessary expense. and many others That is right. Besides, at a time of recession signed a manifesto like this one, companies are bound to establishing two cut expenses and therefore lower their goals: the first one commitment for risk management. This is why we must convey the idea that failure to watch over work safety is going to have a very negative impact in their competitiveness. Bad working conditions increase the cost of production and cause the output to decrease Konkolewsky is Secretary hence the important chance offered by General of the International Social Security Association Prevecan to remind employers that they must invest in risk management because the productivity it generates allows them to act in an ever increasingly competitive market.

INTRODUCtion

‘Prevecan’ opens with a call for consensus on work safety

he president of the Government of the Canary Islands, Paulino Rivero, presided the official opening of the 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks at the Symphony Hall of the Alfredo Kraus Conference-Auditorium Centre in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria on Wednesday 25 March 2009. The event brought together 1,100 specialists in risk management from Europe, Africa and America who, with their presence and participation turned the Canaries into an international discussion forum on safety in the workplace.

Image of the Symphony Hall at the Alfredo Kraus Auditorium during the opening ceremony

From left to right, Jorge Rodríguez, Paulino Rivero, Jerónimo Saavedra and Pedro Tomás Pino

This opening act was also attended by the councillor of Employment, Industry and Trade Jorge Rodríguez Marín; the Director General of Labour of the Canaries Government, Pedro Tomás Pino, and the Mayor of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Jerónimo Saavedra. The most important Unions and employers agents in the Canaries also had the opportunity to take part in this event: trade unions Comisiones Obreras (CC OO), la Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT), and employers associations Confederación Provincial de Empresarios of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (CEOE) and Confederación Canaria de Empresarios (CCE) of Las Palmas. After welcoming and thanking the conference participants, the president of the Canary Islands Government, Paulino Rivero, expressed the desire of the Canaries government to contribute in an effective way to the management of workplace risks. “Prevecan must not be an end in itself, on the contrary, its contents should be evaluated and their practical application sought”, Paulino Rivero added.

Paulino Rivero: “This Conference must not be an end in itself, but its practical application must be sought”

The head of the Canaries government stressed the importance of the meeting, on Friday 27 March, of the International Forum on Prevention Culture in the Workplace whose declaration will be a working tool for Europe, America and Africa. “We have advanced in work risk management thanks to businesses, workers and the public administration. We wish to continue working, especially as people are the most important asset we have”.

The president of the Government of the Canary Islands Paulino Rivero, thanked participants for coming to the Conference

The Councillor for Employment, Industry and Trade of the Government of the Canary Islands, Jorge Rodríguez Marín, mentioned that the first Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks was held two years ago and that although it was a local event, from the start the aim was to widen its scope. “We have managed to draw more interest on occupational risk management” he said, adding that behind the desire to give the Conference an international scope is the wish to “eliminate the barriers so that the right to safety at the workplace is acknowledged worldwide”.

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

This commitment was also shared by the unions and employers representatives. In particular, the secretary general of the Canaries Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT), acknowledged the Government of the Canaries for holding this event and recalled that in Prevecan 2007 her trade union expressed their will to be present at this forum. “UGT favours social dialogue in order to find a way out of work accidents, whose figures in the Canaries are very high because although the number of accidents has gone down, fatal accidents have increased. This is why we want risk management in the workplace to be real”. Alicia Rodríguez appealed for a consensus to reduce accidents and improve risk management as well as avoid favouring production as opposed to risk management. “I hope the motto Shaping the future Together comes true”, she concluded. Representing employers, Sebastián Grisaleña, president of Confederación Canaria de Empresarios (CCE), quoted data from the National Statistics Office (INE) which show that 93% of businesses are small or medium-sized companies, this is why, he said, “risk management regulations should be adapted to businesses in order to make the rules simpler”. Regarding employees he stated that they should be trained and take on their share of responsibility regarding risk management. “At CCE –he said- we propose a joint effort in order to cut down work accidents and improve working conditions. Employers organisations in the Canaries are working to spread risk management culture”. Finally, the mayor of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Jerónimo Saavedra, expressed his joy for holding Prevecan in his city and stressed that it is satisfactory that “we Application used to talk about accidents and now we talk about risk manageThe president of the CCE ment” stating that it is the task asked for a simplification of the whole of society. “(…) We of the rules on risk are far from achieving desirable management so that goals but we must improve”, he they adapt to the reality said. of businesses After the official opening of Prevecan, the authorities inaugurated the nearly eighty stands belongNeed ing to 52 specialist companies, Alicia Rodríguez, from employers and unions associaUGT, favours social tions, institutions and twelve audialogue in order to tonomous communities which offered information about almost find a way out of work every aspect regarding risk manaccidents agement at the workplace and the activities they carry out.

Sebastián Grisaleña, president of CCE, spoke on behalf of employers

Alicia Rodríguez, from UGT Canarias, during her speech

Paulino Rivero opened the hall where the stands were

Magisterial Conference

HOW TO PREVENT UNHEALTHY DECISIONS María Neira

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT OF THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)

María Neira was the speaker at the Magisterial Conference of Prevecan 09

he environment has an influence on our health, especially though chemical, biological and physical factors. In fact, out of the 110 diseases registered by WHO, eighty are related to exposure to environmental risks. 25% of deaths in the planet (13 million dead a year) can be prevented through specific actions on the environment. The last decades have brought new challenges. Globalisation has provoked economic and structural changes, some of which are utterly positive like for instance there are no space and time limits any more. These global markets make capitals move but occupational risks move too. A third of the discussions of the World Trade Organisation are related to health which has become an increasing powerful argument. But health also means well-being. Workers’ health is a production requirement and the other way round, precarious working conditions generate poverty. There are more than 2,800 million people working in the world and their health is determined by environmental and social factors or by working practices. If they are ill, workers are sent to occupational health services.

Healthcare “Primary healthcare must include basic occupational health services and it is necessary to invest in prevention”

Healthy habits “Workers’ health is a production requirement and precarious working conditions generate poverty”

Despite the evidence, we may ask ourselves why we still have such an important agenda to implement risk management. There are countries or emerging economies like China, India or South Africa but this does not mean their basic services have grown at the same rate. In contrast, in other countries, like Spain, the opposite occurs: expenses in the health system are very high and must be reduced. Dedicating money to prevention is the most suitable investment. Increasingly 90% of costs go to treating occupational diseases instead of to prevention. This is especially so in Europe. “We must see how we can convince the rest of the countries of the need to invest in risk management so that we can also influence emerging countries” María Neira said and then asked: How long do we take to see scientific evidence about diseases and adopting risk management policies? In this regard, Neira offers several ideas. We must work in other sectors: in WHO there are 192 countries which this organisation asks to get involved in health and work and to have an inter-sector collaboration. “We would like to include occupational health in primary health care and influence others on the need to invest in prevention, offering scientific evidence in order to convince them”. We must also improve messages. To this effect and to prevent and promote this culture, we must resort to the so called Global Plan of Action on Workers Health –approved by WHO- an organisation which has made every effort possible on this issue. Incorporating the workers’ health agenda is very important.

If working conditions are good and healthy practices are encouraged in companies (for example, banning tobacco) health is improved; this is why it is so important to invest in healthy workplaces or where healthy habits are favoured because they are a very profitable investment. For instance, offering healthy food at company refectories. Moreover, the workplace can turn into a medical assistance platform that can influence on workers and their families.

Primary healthcare must include basic occupational health services. This has many advantages as it reinforces the message of prevention. In this sense, María Neira offered her help to achieve this goal. The financial crisis can be a chance for creativity. There is talk of a new economic development society. The director of Public Health and Environment of WHO concluded: “We must take proactive part in this model because the crisis will worsen working conditions. We are at an ideal moment to invest in occupational risk management because it yields the best investment results”.

Despite this, most workers carry out their work in unsafe conditions, especially in the so called Third World. The fact is 37% of occupational diseases are produced by lumbago and 13% are due to CPOD (Chronic Pulmonary Obstruction Disease). In short, two million people die a year due to work accidents.

Climate change forces life style changes. In fact, it has generated the so called green economy and green jobs. The agenda for climate change on energy efficiency moves toward a modification of working conditions. Developing clean energy implies interesting opportunities for workers’ health.

At present and in the face of this information it is clear that we are not investing enough in prevention as yet. This is so despite the fact that WHO has shown that prevention policies is a good investment for companies; in fact, there is research to support it and which confirm a decrease in work absenteeism.

The occupational health agenda contributes to the millennium goals like eradicating child labour. “This is the time to be creative, imaginative, innovative”. The Declaration of Seoul on Occupational Safety and Health, approved in 2008, must be an important task we must all be involved in.

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

“Most workers carry out their work in unsafe conditions”

INTERVIEW

“THIS CRISIS MUST NOT BE A DRAWBACK TO WORKERS’ HEALTH”

María Neira

DIRECTOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT OF THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION (WHO)

uring the II Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks the Director General of the Department of Health and Environment of the World Health Organisation (WHO), María Neira, showed her concern about the possibility of the current economic recession being a drawback to public health: “This crisis must not be a drawback to workers’ health but a chance to contribute to the green economy model”. Asturias born María Neira has a degree in Medicine and Surgery from the Faculty of Medicine of Oviedo University and specialised in Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases at René Descartes University in Paris. Neira has published many scientific works and has taken part in numerous seminars, conferences and presentations throughout the world. She has also coordinated strategic plans for WHO in many Third World countries. The WHO representative stressed the need to spread the risk management culture, to encourage public health action in the work environment where benefits are not only for workers but for their family and society in general too. Asked whether investing in risk management influences profitability, María Neira said “it is important to invest in occupational risk because there is a cost to disease”.

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

In this regard she mentioned the Global Plan of Action on Workers Health of WHO started in 2008 and to end in 2017, one of its main goals being protecting and encouraging health in the workplace. One of the challenges of the Action Plan is that all healthcare systems offer coverage to the whole of the working population. In some countries, 20% of workers do not have access to healthcare and this is a trend which should disappear, according to this international organisation.

More efficiency “Countries with very high healthcare expenses do not invest enough in prevention, as is the case of Spain. I insist we must invest in prevention in order to save” Suggestion “We must influence health promotion through the so called green economy”

“This is a very important agenda which requires work in other sectors, not just in health, although we are talking of the health of more than a third of the world population”, María Neira stated, who pointed out that two million people die due to occupational accidents or work-related diseases. Regarding how to face the future, the director of the Department of Public Health and Environment of WHO said that this message about prevention must reach society. “Investment in this issue is not enough in countries with very high healthcare expenses, like Spain. I insist we must invest in prevention in order to save”, she said.

workers health agenda must be incorporated to healthcare and environment policies. We must make the most of these opportunities”. In short, this medical professional thinks that “we must influence health through the models of the new economy, for instance, through the so called green economy”, in reference to social and economic changes and therefore at work deriving from policies related to climate change and which can bring about changes in occupational health habits. “We applaud those who believe and invest in occupational risk management. I also call for inter-sector work because two million deaths a year are unacceptable”, she concluded.

WHO is also focusing on emerging economies of India and China with the aim of influencing them so that they have the minimum standards of protection and health promotion for workers. In some countries we shall work on the basic protection against environmental risks and in others, our intention is for workers to have access to healthcare once the occupational disease has occurred. “About emerging countries –María Neira said- I must say that even though their economic indicators are rising, workers health prevention is not. This

theme BLOCK RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE WORKPLACE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE LEGAL SYSTEM

Risk Management in the Workplace in the framework of collective bargaining

José Callejas García

Technical Board League of UGT

Pilar Iglesias Valcarce

Secretary of the Commission on Social Security, Risk Management, Health and Social Services of CEOE

Pedro José Linares García

Secretary of occupational Health at CCOO

Moderator: Jorge Marín Rodríguez Díaz

Councillor of Employment, Industry and Trade of the Government of the Canary Islands

Image of the speakers at the round table

isk management in the workplace in the framework of collective bargaining was the topic discussed at the round table held by representatives of the Spanish main trade unions and the employers association CEOE. José Callejas, from UGT Technical Board League, started by saying that the first idea he wished to convey

was that collective bargaining plays a special role within work risk Management. “The law on Risk Management in the workplace (PRL) falls within a special ruling framework whose aim is to make it efficient; this is why collective bargaining faces this issue in a different way”, he explained. Callejas pointed out that trade unions must know that there should be no difference between negotiating the regulation of working hours and occupational risks management. “On the contrary, it is their responsibility to achieve this reconciliation”, he stressed. In the second place, the concept of collective bargaining put forward by UGT –Callejas explainedmeans that it is more than just a contract or rule; people who are part of this bargaining must guarantee its continuity in, for example, issues related to safety and health. As an example he said that in the event of work harassment in a company there has to be continuous communication with the collective bargaining in order to know it. “This fits very well with the principles of Risk Management in the Workplace”. The third idea the UGT representative put forward was: How to put into practice the obligation to protect using collective bargaining as a tool? In the first place, he said, by watching health, which is evaluated at the collective bargaining through which supervision can be established; secondly, risk management carried out by employers should work properly. He pointed out that the users of risk management services are employers but employees and their agents can also analyse this service. The fourth idea: what does occupational risk management mean to UGT? Regarding this issue, according to José Callejas, this trade union puts at stake a quality representation. It takes a long time to train a risk management delegation as it is also entitled to report. “We want to take this issue very seriously at UGT to make sure the law is complied with”, he stressed. Finally, the fifth idea he shared with the people present had to do with the importance of psychosocial risks which, he said, should be studied at the collective bargaining. Pilar Iglesias, Secretary of the Commission on Social Security, Risk Management, Health and Social Services of the employers association CEOE, started her speech saying that we have a complex ruling network linked to a responsibility framework which refers almost exclusively to employers whatever the characteristics of the company. This is why she said it was logical for the collective bargaining to deal carefully with everything relating to occupational risk management.

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

The Canaries councillor for Employment, Jorge Rodríguez, was the moderator

José Callejas said that UGT wants to “take care of” risk management in the workplace

Responsability At the round table it was said that trade union organisations must know there is no difference between negotiating the rules for working hours and the measures of occupational risk management

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“The risk management law –Pilar Iglesias explained- adds more obligations to the employer. At an inter-confederation level we have realised that different applications are made ever since the said rule came into force. In some areas such as health watch, recommendations have been included”. The CEOE representative reflected on the framework of the collective bargaining in as much as it can have a margin for the application of work risk managing but it also has limitations. “We must remember that the collective agreement does not expire as it has the rank of a regulation, this is why any commitment regarding risk management must be dealt with carefully”.

Pilar Iglesias hoped collective bargaining was the ideal framework to improve risk management

Other aspects approached by the collective bargaining which are not in agreement with the Law on Risk Management in the Workplace are, according to Iglesias, the pluses paid for danger: “We recommend employers to suppress these concepts because the Law does not include them or are not clearly defined. Even if employers comply with this rule they still have the obligation to pay these pluses. This must disappear at the collective bargaining.” On the other hand, certain aspects of the collective bargaining are included in non-generic obligations. In the collective bargaining the Spanish Strategy for Safety and Health in the Workplace includes sanctions to workers who do not comply with matters related to risk management; nonetheless, Valcarce pointed out, the CEOE believes this should be typified in the law as the employers association has demanded. Pilar Iglesias stated that the CEOE has worked in preparing an extraordinary call for the development of these sector programmes. I hope collective bargaining is the ideal framework to improve risk management”, she concluded.

The round table underlined the importance of risk management in the workplace in the framework of collective bargaining

Pedro José Linares, secretary of Occupational Health at trade union Comisiones Obreras (CCOO), started his speech explaining the features of the collective bargaining Consensus regarding risk management at the workplace. Negotiating risk The round table underlined the importance of management is not –he statedrisk management in the framework of collective the usual exchange because bargaining health is not an exchange, it is a right that is above work relationships. For this reason it should be understood as a system of ever improving in working conditions.

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

The fact that the law of Risk Management in the Workplace exists does not mean it is followed, according to Linares: “We must take its application to companies. Spanish legislation encourages sectors to self-regulate. True risk management culture means the parties involved take on their responsibility. All the agents involved should be committed to improving working conditions”. Among the difficulties for the safeguard of work health are the companies’ resistance, the fact that it is not a priority for employees and the lack of ideas and proposals. We have to take into account that it is not the time to go back in risk management because we are still very far from the European framework as it is stated in the Spanish Strategy for Safety and Health in the Workplace. “The keys to success in the collective bargaining are the correlation of forces and the existence of a regulatory framework”, he said.

Pedro Linares, secretary of Occupational Health at Comisiones Obreras during his intervention

Work health in the collective bargaining in Spain had an important encouragement from 1996 with the Law on Risk Management in the Workplace; however, the Comisiones Obreras representative explained, this ruling has given rise to unequal results like the repetition of legislation, the establishment of bad clauses and the fact of basing the risk on money and the existence of good dispositions which develop the articles. Spanish Strategy for Safety and Health in the Workplace was carried out through a pact between the State, the autonomous communities, the trade unions and the employers and was an integral negotiation in order to ease the implantation of risk management. Linares pointed out that this Strategy has two goals: reduce accidents and improve the levels of safety. This is achieved by incorporating issues in occupational risk management, that is, “making improvements in working conditions permanently. All this must affect society”. However, as Linares said, the obligations in the Law are formally complied with but not the spirit of it. For example, regarding the Strategy, dated 2007, goal 3 is about reinforcing the role of interlocutors and the involvement of employers in safety and health in the workplace. “We believe this clause has not been fulfilled and partial agreements are sought. Equally, I would like to warn that the application of the said Strategy is still blocked. I would like to call the attention to the responsibility of the agents because we cannot lower our guard, despite the economic situation”.

Speakers stressed the need of a commitment to comply with the Law on Risk Management in the Workplace

theme BLOCK RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE WORKPLACE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE LEGAL SYSTEM

The problem of workers’ return to work after an occupational accident or disease

Willi Morger

Swiss Accident Insurance Fund (SUVA)

Moderator: Luis Fernando Fernández Perdido

Deputy General Manager of Social Security Collaborating Bodies Arrangement

he problem of a worker’s return to work after an accident was the main topic of Willi Morger’s speech, from the Swiss Accident Insurance Fund (SUVA), that deals with insurances in both work and non-work accidents. Morger started by outlining the orientation of his work: “As an insurer I have to do more than the law, I must take into account economic and ethical issues. If we want to be successful, we must have a global view and provide new solutions”.

Willi Morger explained how to rehabilitate workers who have suffered accidents

In his speech, Morger talked about returning to work after an accident, and above all the social relevance of this achievement. “It is important for the economy to have a continuous assistance without excluding anybody. We must keep a global margin so that integral employment becomes a real goal”. He pointed out that the aim is to turn the inability to work into ability to work. “We want to rehabilitate workers who have suffered an accident.” The Swiss insurer said that “being disabled does not mean being unable to earn a salary. Unable workers must make an effort to return to the work market because companies benefit from them”. This is why he reminded that SUVA promotes the integration of people who have suffered accidents or with difficulties to access a job. Regarding the management of new cases, Willi Morger stated that at SUVA they want refusal to be turned into acceptance and assistance. “In managing these cases we look into the personal situation of the person who has suffered the accident. We need solutions for difficult problems. SUVA’s goal is total rehabilitation”, he explained.

Morger stressed that it is important to be in time after the accident in order to activate all the mechanisms

Swiss Accident Insurance Fund received three awards in 2004 for the successful management of new cases apart from innovating in the management of insurance in this country. “The new millennium –Willi Morder explained- has not been good for the costs of insurers. Medical treatment is more and more expensive, apart from the amount destined to pensions. This is the reason we must focus on the costs generated by accidents”.

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

In this regard, the speaker pointed out that there are several essential factors to determine costs: medical findings, the victim’s personality and the social and professional environment. In order to achieve success, SUVA managed the cases by involving all these agents. There are cases of different seriousness: 2% are complex and 60% mean costs to the company, hence the importance of an early identification of the case and the rehabilitation of the victim. The victim’s personality is also decisive as well as the family environment. 25% of cases are ordinary, this is why we wish to encourage the quick integration of the victims and to this end resources are directed to human aspects.

“We must keep a global margin so that integral employment becomes a real goal”

Complex cases are dealt with by analysing goals and their definition (necessary therapies or returning to work). The agent chosen in each case promotes the victim in the work environment. The family is also very important. Medical staff also takes part in the process (especially rehabilitation) and so do employment counsellors. All of them must inform if they achieve their goals in time. About demands in serious injuries, like those affecting the spine, family aspects have to be taken into account as well as victims’ pessimist outlook on their future. On the resolution of these processes, there is also an increasing satisfaction on the affected parties. “In 2008 we got almost 90 points, thanks to helping people to return to work. This way people are very satisfied”, Willi Morder claimed. With the aim to reduce costs –the Swiss insurer said- in 2003 SUVA re-organised the managing of new cases. The costs of the new disability pensions have lowered without changing the demands for compensation. There is also the possibility of lowering the costs in compensations. We have actually managed to reduce the premium of 5%. In 2007 we held a convention in Lucerne about the main issues in returning to work. We underline the fact that the client must reach a goal and trust the manager of their specific case. That is the only way they can achieve their goal. We must take sure steps at all times and intermediate goals have to be set in order to get that trust. Morger stressed that it is important to be in time after the accident in order to activate all the mechanisms. The first thing to do is to sort out needs: rehabilitation, as the victim and the rehabilitators must be very well coordinated; discipline in the rehabilitation and the principle of economic investment so that it is profitable.

Luis Fernández, Deputy General Manager of Social Security Collaborating Bodies Arrangement was the moderator

Willi Morger: “Being disabled does not mean being unable to earn a salary. These people must make an effort to return to work because companies can benefit from them”

In conclusion, Willi Morger stated that in the past the role of insurance companies was to pay pensions but today it must work in order to improve the condition of victims and contribute to the economy that way. 27

theme BLOCK RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE WORKPLACE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE LEGAL SYSTEM

The role of the compensation system to workers in risk management

Charles Mpundu

President of the Control Board of Workers’ Compensation Fund in Zambia

Moderator José Yanes

National Institute of Safety and Hygiene in the Workplace (INSHT)

C Charles Mpundu explained the struggle for matters regarding risk management in the workplace in Zambia

If the family of the injured wishes to claim, they can have the support of our agency. Seminars and training are also important in order to prevent accidents. In this regard he said: “we want to broaden our field of action by collaborating with safety departments at mines and providing a range of proportional benefits”. “Our programmes of recuperation are taught at rehabilitation centres to cover these people’s demands”, explained the president of the Control Board of Workers’ Compensation Fund in Zambia, and added that to this end they work hand in hand with hospitals.

harles Mpundu, president of the Control Board of Workers’ Compensation Fund in Zambia, explained the role of the compensation system to workers in risk management at the workplace taking as a basis the data registered in his country on work accidents in the past four years, especially that 80% of this type of incident occurs in factories, mining and building.

In order to explain to the audience the difficulties to intervene in his country, Mpundu pointed out that Zambia is six or seven times larger than England, that is why it is very complex to reach all the affected areas. “Challenges are very big, just like distances, as not everything can travel electronically; in short, the rate we are working at is not the right one”.

He stated that the number of accidents in roads is quite significant, where a higher percentage of deaths occur, as in farming where most workers are temporary and is easy to find replacement. In Mpundu’s opinion, these data should be studied in depth and the appropriate Ministry should apply the regulations, “at present almost nil”, he said.

He added another problem found in his task of compensating workers. He said that some of the Zambia pensioners are lost because many live abroad, especially in England and Australia, and it is difficult to make their pensions reach them”, he said.

Regarding groups which are most vulnerable to work accidents, Mpundu said that most deaths are registered in people aged between 25 and 29, although those from 30 to 34 suffer permanent or temporary inability through work accidents more frequently. With regard to industry, 80% of accidents happen in agriculture, mining and factories while figures are not that high in building.

“Zambia is six or seven times larger than England, that is why it is very complex to reach all the affected areas”

“Our challenges –the speaker said- are applying stricter controls and the improvement of the situation of a community who has suffered an occupational work illness”.

Mechanisms employed in work risk management at the Control Board of Workers’ Compensation Fund in Zambia are basically two. In the first place, preserving human and physical goods and second, having a department which offers services in safety and health management at the workplace. Mpundu pointed out that most illnesses related to work do not appear immediately but later.

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

Similarly, there are many accidents which are not noticed because the lack of rigour is very high, “that is why it is difficult to compensate all workers despite them having a right to it”. Mpundu stated that some employers in Zambia do not inform about their employees’ diseases apart from the fact that some pathologies are not very well known because they are not studied enough. This is why it is a challenge to know which illnesses can be included and which cannot. “For example, those related to uranium are not included in our lists; that is why we have reinforced the awareness programmes”, he added. Charles Mpundu stated that there are not enough professionals in Zambia and he believes people should be trained properly in his country. “We have increased coordination with other institutions to exchange information and we would also like to review and change some elements of our current legislation. I hope we can work better once we reach this stage”.

Moderator, José Yanes

Difficulties “Sometimes Zambia employers do not report their employees diseases in addition to lack of knowledge regarding certain pathologies”

theme BLOCK RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE WORKPLACE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE LEGAL SYSTEM

Risk Management in the Workplace from the point of view of the Work and Social Security Inspectorate (ITSS) Adrián González Martín

Deputy Director General for the coordination in matters of Work Relations, Work Risk Management and Measures of Equality in the Work and Social Security Inspectorate (ITSS) of the Ministry of Labour and Immigration

Moderator: Juan de Dios Fernández Lupiañez

Territorial Director of the Work and Social Security Inspectorate of the Canary Islands

In order to fulfil this mission, this body has the following duties: advising and informing companies and workers, drawing reports for the Employment Tribunal in procedures of work accidents and occupational diseases and inform the work authorities about work accidents and occupational diseases. The ITSS is also in charge of checking and encouraging the compliance with the obligations assumed by the risk management services and ordering the immediate stop of work in the event of serious imminent risk for the safety and health of workers. On the other hand, Law 42/1997, of 14 November, regulating the Inspection of Work and Social Security, in article three states that “the inspecting duties include watching and obliging compliance with legal norms, rulings and normative contents included in collective contents regarding risk management at the workplace, as well as the legal regulations to do with conditions of work in the said matter”.

González stated that the ITSS duties include two actions: preventive and reactive

In short, the ITSS duties can be summarised in two types of actions: preventive and reactive. Regarding prevention, being now analysed, it is basically watching that the ruling on risk management at the workplace is complied with: checking the conditions of the work tools, the companies’ risk management organisation and activities, and confirming other actions and principles of risk management activity. Specifically, with regard to administrative control of companies specialised in risk management, the ITSS acts on the risk management services, on the auditing entities and on those which carry out and certify training activities on this issue. Its duties include issuing reports prior to the accreditation procedures, checking that the conditions of authorisation are kept and watching that the obligations are fulfilled regarding risk management services to companies or to auditing entities or those which are authorised to certify training on risk management. From left to right Adrián González and Juan de Dios Fernández

drián González Martín, Deputy Director General for the coordination in matters of Work Relations, Work Risk Management and Measures of Equality at the Work and Social Security Inspectorate (ITSS) of the Ministry of Labour and Immigration, started his speech by explaining the legal competence of the ITSS as stated in Law 31/1995, of 8 November, on Risk Management in the Workplace, and Law 42/1997, of 14 November, which regulates the Inspection of Work and Social Security. The Law on Risk Management in the Workplace includes in article nine the competences of the ITSS, which is in charge of watching and controlling the ruling on risk management in the workplace.

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

In the Spanish Strategy for Safety and Health in the Workplace (2007-2012), which stems from the consensus of the main social agents, the ITSS includes the development of the experimental project PREVEA, the passing of a Royal Decree on subcontracting in construction, plans for priority actions regarding accidents at work, creating staff similar to those at the 15-strong EU InspecRegulation tions, regular meetings with the ITSS of the autonomous commuThe Law on Occupational Risk Management includes nities, with whom we shall try to in article nine the competences of ITSS, which is in establish urgent measures for charge of vigilance and control the efficiency in collecting from sanctions. A framework protocol of collaboration was established

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theme BLOCK IMMIGRANTS AND WOMEN IN THE AREA OF RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE WORKPLACE

Prevention and immigration

to research on accidents at the workplace and intensifying the coordination mechanisms with the Prosecution. Basing ourselves on this planning, the goals of ITSS for 2009 start with campaigns in the autonomous communities. Also the areas of preventive action will include 1,421 inspections to companies, 1,827 inspections to risk management services and monitoring entities and 2,144 inspections to companies with a high number of accidents or serious accidents. The general programme of goals include the development of five campaigns in different areas (fishing, maternity, chemical risk, etc.). ITSS will carry on investigating on work accidents and occupational illnesses; in fact in 2008 it investigated 12,627 work accidents and 485 occupational illnesses. Regarding the organisation of the ITSS in risk management, Adrián González, pointed out that this body carries out its duties through work and social security inspectors, and the bodies of support and collaboration, that is, the experts at the autonomous communities and at the National Institute of Safety and Health at the Workplace (INSHT) in Ceuta and Melilla. These experts now have new competence in advising and informing as well as in checking the safety and health conditions previously programmed. Adrián González mentioned that Work Inspectors can order works to be stopped in the event of serious hazard for workers safety

Goals ITSS goals for 2009 start by setting up campaigns in autonomous communities

Regarding the tools for the inspection activities the goals at the protocols and guidelines for action are to have better quality and rigour, judicial security and coherence in the proceedings. The matters included in the protocols are risk management, building, ergonomics and psychosocial risks, temporary jobs companies, fishing boats apart from road safety and specific campaigns among others. Adrián González also referred to the relationship of the ITSS with the Courts and Tribunals which is actually the issuing of a binding report in the cases of proceedings for work accidents and professional illnesses and in the duty to collaborate as included in article 10.3 of Law 42/1997. In 2008 ITSS forwarded 1,285 reports to the Prosecution for infractions. Martín explained that there is a framework protocol to investigate accidents at the workplace and occupational illnesses which has been signed by judicial and work organisations and institutions as well as the trade unions CCOO and UGT, the General Council of Spanish Advocates and the General Council of the School of Professional Graduates. This protocol aims at establishing a framework of collaboration among the administrations involved in the fight against accidents at the workplace. Finally, new actions to be carried out by the ITSS include risk management in road safety and psychosocial risks like mobbing and internal and external violence.

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

Sagrario Segado Sánchez-Cabezudo

Lecturer of Psychology and Social Work at Spanish Open University (UNED)

Antonio López Peláez

Lecturer at the Faculty of Political Science and Sociology at UNED

Pablo Segado Rodríguez

Head of the Work and Safety Unit of the labour Inspectorate of Santa Cruz de Tenerife

MODERATOR Natividad Cano Pérez

Vice-Councillor for Welfare and Immigration of the Canary Islands Government

isk management in the immigrant population, a particularly vulnerable sector, was the topic dealt with at the round table held by two lecturers from the Spanish Open University (UNED) and the Head of Work Safety Unit of the Labour Inspectorate of the province of Tenerife. Facts Antonio López said that immigrants take precariousness for granted when they start working. In addition they have little training regarding prevention

The lecturer of the Faculty of Political Science and Sociology of the UNED, Antonio López, started by asking whether it was possible to establish suitable prevention and training strategies addressed to immigrant workers in matters of risk management in the workplace. In this regard he took as starting point the invisibility of these risks and the characteristics of the work market and immigrants. Hence his research is directed to the discourse of immigrant population. As to how to face this invisibility, the speaker said that the data, strategies and the importance of the discourse have to be taken into account. According to the investigation carried out, the discussion groups reached the following conclusions: immigrants take for granted the precariousness and the insecurity as initial part of their work experience. Similarly risks are deemed part of the job and their initial training regarding risk management is very low. On the other hand, they need to be trained according to the business network, which is very diverse, and their legal situation, which is at times irregular (leading them to avoid going to the doctor or not claim improvements in their working conditions). Language problems are also important as well as the lack of

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training due to high job changing: their fellow workers are their main trainers regarding risk management at work.

Requirement Genre segregation is a reality and women have specific demands

There is actual genre segregation and women have specific demands. Regarding the key areas to design proposals, the speaker mentions seven.

Sagrario Segado Sánchez-Cabezudo

The first one consists of spreading the culture of risk management in companies, especially in small and medium size ones, establishing training programmes that take into account workers heterogeneousness, their mobility and how often they change job. It would be advisable to establish a training system on line common to a given sector through which workers can continue their training. In the second place, another key area would be to encourage education regarding risks to health. “They often know less about this than about the machinery employed”. In his third idea, López puts forward the development of the culture of health management and the safety and health conditions at the workplace in every sector and area of activity, analysing old and new risk patterns which live side by side with the previous culture and the characteristics of immigrant workers. “It is a matter of encouraging good practice”, he explained. In the fourth place, the speaker links the levels of health and safety at the workplace with the productivity and profitableness of a business. To this effect he highlighted the efficiency of quality certificates in some countries, the programmes which link institutional aid with the encouragement of good practice and the link between a good reputation and the reduction of accidents in the workplace.

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

Regarding the risks of exclusion caused by working conditions, he concludes that in Spain immigrants aged 18 to 40 are the most threatened. They also point out that very little attention has been paid to this problem due to limitations in statistical sources and too much trust in immigrants’ physical capacity. Another consequence registered is the verification of a changing society: old working risks are being redefined and the old risk patterns exist along with new ones. The features of the new risk patterns include an intensive use of new technologies, a third sector economy, a flexible multiuse working model, and a model of contract whose main feature is instability. Other pressure factors are precarious jobs, low wages and incipient incorporation to the labour market, among other hard working conditions.

Image of the participants at the round table

In his fifth proposal, López talks about establishing training and improving the skills regarding safety issues of immigrant workers. The expert proposes, as his sixth key, establishing programmes to spread good practice, so that the appropriate strategies are known in order to improve safety and health conditions at work, from the small and medium size company viewpoint and taking into account the special features of each sector. In his last proposal, Antonio López points out that it is necessary to train risk management experts so that they can face not only traditional risks but also those derived from the implantation of new technologies, and logically, both types of risk regarding the immigrant working population. Antonio López and Sagrario Segado, lecturer of Psychology and Social Work at UNED, presented a joint research work Immigration, work and health: excluding processes with the aim

to look into the exclusion derived from the lack of health due to the working conditions suffered by immigrants. Among the goals of this research is the study of the risk of exclusion derived from the working conditions of immigrants and the most relevant bibliographical findings about the relation between immigration, working conditions and health.

The invisibility of work risks in the immigrant population offers a theoretical framework whose main feature is individuality which entails loss of rights, worsening working conditions and accidents or illnesses as an individual matter. “The seriousness of these facts is that immigrants take work instability for granted, they see it as a better option to unemployment and it is warranted by an Analysis extreme individualism”. Invisibility of occupational risks in the And all this happens despite the immigrant population provides a theoretical fact that matters related to safety framework whose main feature is and health in the workplace are individualism which entails the loss of rights of specific interest in the case of immigrant workers due to Suggestion their high rate of employment in high risk sectors, the cultural It is necessary to train risk management and language barriers, and the experts to face not only traditional risks larger number of hours at work. but also those derived from new technologies Another risk of exclusion is little visibility in data statistics. At a European level there is little research about the relationship between working conditions and health except for the Swedish National Institute for Working Life apart from it becoming evident that there is a fragmentation in the bibliographical sources and exclusion at times is due to the type of occupation and not to the fact of being immigrants.

Pablo Segado Rodríguez

theme BLOCK IMMIGRANTS AND WOMEN IN THE AREA OF RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE WORKPLACE

PAPERS/ROUND TABLES

Women and work

As a conclusion to this research, Sagrario Segado pointed out the presence of scarce visible risks in this sector of the population and the lack of research in this regard. The need to increase attention on safety and health issues of immigrant workers is confirmed, apart from support to centres devoted to research, prevention and intervention.

Marta Zimmermann Verdejo

Director of the Research and Information Department at the National Institute of Safety and Health at Work (INSHT)

MODERATOR Pilar Cancela Rodríguez

Finally, Pablo Segado Rodríguez, Head of the Work and Safety Unit of the Work Inspection Board of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, started by highlighting the differences in the safety and health conditions at work of immigrants and the ruling silence on the issue. Among these conditions is their employment in high risk jobs, work precariousness, language differences, and the lack of preventive policies. Other conditions are the general life situation and its influence on work, housing and health, apart from the need to accept any type of work. Long working hours and bad pay complete the situation. Regarding the obligations on safety and matters related to work risk management when there are immigrants in the workplace, Pablo Segado recalled the definition of work health offered by World Health Organisation (WHO) which is based on “the adaptation of the job to the person as preventive policy”. Basing ourselves on this thesis and on the Law for Risk Management in the Workplace, obligations regarding risk management include having a plan for risk management in the workplace and the inclusion of management at work, apart from evaluating the risks and having the appropriate planning.

General Director of Employment of Galicia

hen health problems are detected in women workers there is a general tendency to think it is due to maladjustment to work, hormonal factors or subjectivity. Although there are work sectors which are clearly taken by females, in those sectors which are not, there is a clear distinction in tasks depending on the genre of the workers. With the present research, Marta Zimmermann, manager of the Research Department of the INHST, wants to analyse some indicators of inequality and the reasons for such discrepancies, not so much in the relationship man-woman but looking into which factors make some women workers more vulnerable. Antonio López Peláez

The field work of the VI National Survey on Working Conditions was carried out in 2007 on a representative sample at national level of 11,054 workers (6,471 men and 4,583 women), within nine large branches of economic activity. The present report is based on the data of the said survey, selecting among its many questions some key indicators that would allow to detect situations of inequality.

Obligations on this matter also include training and information. The content of the information must be theoretical, practical, appropriate and sufficient. The added difficulties in the case of immigrants must be solved as for instance the mother tongue of the transmitter, deficient materials and the lack of background knowledge.

Zimmermann started with the results thrown up by this study offering data on the first indicator: exposure to chemical agents. To the question whether at the workplace they manipulated harmful or toxic substances or breathed in harmful or toxic powder, smoke, aerosols, gases or steam; in the total sample, 32% of men said yes as opposed to 20,4% of women, these differences being statistically significant. This discrepancy was kept when industry and services were analysed separately. The highest proportion of exposed women workers was found in chemical industries (48.9% of the surveyed in this field), followed by sanitary and veterinary activities (34.2%) and the agricultural sector (32.5%).

In order to guarantee safety it is paramount to use individual work and protection equipment with the appropriate instruction manual and technical knowledge, among other aspects. Actions in emergencies, like the employers’ obligation in case of serious or imminent risk, along with health watch through medical checkups, are other duties regarding general and individual safety, as well as encouraging immigrant workers to ask and take part in risk management activities. As conclusion, Pablo Segado, offered several “recipes” like “inter-discipline”, appropriate application of the Spanish Strategy for Safety and Health at the Workplace, individual company risk management policies, public risk management policies, the labour ius cogens and decent work.

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

The present research was carried out using the information supplied by the VI National Survey on Working Conditions carried out by the INSHT. This survey, though limited, provides an analysis of the situation and knowledge of the evolution of the most relevant factors in working conditions at a national level, estimating the prevailing health damage accountable to work.

Regarding the second indicator, exposure to noise, 11,054 people were asked about this risk at their workplace. In the total sample, 14.2% of men said they suffered high levels of noise, as opposed to 5.4% of women, these differences being statistically significant. This divergence was kept when industry and services were studied separately. Analysing women by field of activity it was found that the highest rate was found in the chemical industry. (38.3% of the women working in this field said they were exposed to noise). Moderator, Natividad Cano, Canaries vice-councillor for Welfare and Immigration

Finally, for the third indicator, on factors of physical burden, they were asked according to an ordinal scale, how much were they exposed to a agents of physical complaints derived from postures, movements or efforts at work. Exposed was considered the most extreme answer in the scale which classified exposure frequency in each of the factors as “always or very often”. 37

PAPERS/ROUND TABLES Both in men and women workers the most frequent risk factors related to physical burden were: keeping the same position (21.7% of men and 24.7% of women) and do hand-arm repetitive movements (26.4% of men and 29.0% of women). The proportion of women exposed to static positions depending on field of activity was larger in chemical industries, (41.7% of those asked who work in this field are exposed); followed by manufacturers (37.9%). By level of studies it was noted that the adoption of static positions has an ascending lineal trend (the higher the level of studies, the more it prevails). The rate of women who did hand-arm repetitive movements was larger in the metal field (46.4%) and the chemical industry (42.6% of the poll). By level of studies it is noted that workers with primary studies make more repetitive movements (33.2%). Regarding the fourth indicator, on mental load factors and those of a psychosocial nature they were asked according to an ordinal scale, what were the characteristics of their tasks in relation to 21 psychosocial and organisational factors. Exposed was considered the most extreme answer in the scale which classified exposure frequency in each of the factors as “always or very often”. Of the 21 indicators chosen, the most common among women was dealing with the public, (51.6% of workers); followed by high or very high levels of attention (37%). Comparing men and women it is noted that the latter deals directly with the public and works with computers more frequently. To a lesser extent an unbalance has also been found in carrying out short time repetitive tasks; having to carry out several tasks at the same time; not being able to have outside help or not being free to decide the holiday period. The average number of psychosocial factors accumulated by a worker was almost four (3.80 factors in average), this being slightly higher in women (3.9 factors as opposed to 3.7 in men). The number of accumulated factors, disregarding sex, tends to be higher in industry. And so, while women working at industries accumulated an average of 4.3 factors, in the service sector the average went down to 3.9. The fields of industry accumulating a higher average of psychosocial agents among women were the chemical and metal industries. In services the average offered by workers belonging to the fields of health, veterinary and social services stands out. Safety in the workplace is the fifth indicator. Workers were asked what the main risks of accident were in carrying out their job. In order to make identification easier 19 options were provided, being able to choose all those they identified as potential risks. While 77% of men workers identified one or more risks, only 57% of women did. These differences were still larger when industry workers were asked (perceiving risk of work accident 84.9% and 61% respectively). On analysing in the sample of women workers the average accumulated risk of accident identified with their position it is noted that the risk agents perceived were higher among women with primary studies, workers of the primary sector and those working in health and veterinary. Also those who have had some training in SST and those who have had some risk assessment in their work position. Regarding postural complaints (sixth indicator), workers were asked to indicate the three main areas in their bodies where they had complaints accountable to work postures and efforts and they were shown a list of 11 body locations. Among men, 70.6% identified a painful area while women did so in 75.3%. The three areas of the back (nape, spine and lumbar) were the most frequently mentioned by both men and women. Nonetheless, in women areas such as nape/neck, spine (higher part of back) and legs were more often mentioned. In services the unbalance between genres was even higher than in industry. There are more different painful segments here, it being more frequent among women pains in the neck/nape; arms/forearms; hands/wrists; higher section of back; lower section of back and legs. 38

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

Finally, given the amount of associated variables, real or accidentally, to this indicator, an analysis was carried out in order to determine how much some of them influenced on presenting or not osteo-muscle complaints accountable to postures or efforts at work. The osteo-muscle complaint related to work is indeed more related to females; it has a direct lineal relation with age and the number of years worked; and inverse with the level of studies. Besides, the risks of suffering these complaints increases not only with factors associated to physical load but they are also modified in the presence of psychosocial factors. The seventh indicator deals with psychosomatic symptoms. Among women the most frequent symptoms were sleep alterations (12.5%), tiredness (13.7%), migraine (13.2%) and irritability (9.4%). In general, these four symptoms were more frequent among employees who had worked for longer years and those of extreme educational levels (either primary or university). The eighth indicator, on risk management activities, was analysed from three points: the training and information received regarding safety and health at the workplace; risk assessment at the workplace and the offering by the employer to have a medical check-up. Regarding training and information received on safety and health at the workplace, they were asked if in the last two years they had received either training or information on the risks for their health and safety related to their job. 57.9% of men and 48.8% of women answered yes, this difference being statistically significant. That is, comparatively, women received less information than men. This unbalance remained when industry and services were analysed separately. Regarding assessment and analysis of risks in their positions they were asked if in the last 12 months any study or assessment of the risks for their health or safety at their work stations had been carried out. 36.2% of men and 29.3% of women answered yes, this difference being statistically significant. This unbalance remained when industry and services were analysed separately. On the other hand they were asked whether in the past twelve months the company had offered them the possibility of having a medical check-up. 66.4% of men and 55% of women said yes, this difference being statistically significant. This unbalance remained when industry and services were analysed separately. In general the groups more affected by a lack of these three types of risk management were: women (as opposed to men); workers with primary level studies, young workers, those who have not been long in the company (there being a lineal relationship: the less number of years worked, the more lack there was and services (as opposed to industry). Finally, the ninth indicator dealt with the inability or unavailability to answer a series of questions which could be deemed fundamental in pinpointing the shortcomings in the correct management of risk. A larger tendency not to answer or not knowing how to answer certain questions (on safety, risk management organisation, and risk assessment) was noticed in women workers (as opposed to males). A fact that discloses the need to increase training and awareness in women regarding risk management. In conclusion, Marta Zimmermann stated that the analysis of the information gathered through the method of polls has detected differences in working and health conditions between men and women workers. Unbalances affecting a large number of items have been described ranging from risk management to the view of risks. Moreover, within the group of Different realities women workers, there have emerged groups who “In the group of women workers, are especially vulnerable who suffer this inequality there have emerged groups who are more intensely, which could act as a guideline to the especially vulnerable and suffer this intervention of these critical and top priority points inequality more intensely” which can be improved. 39

INTERVIEW

“The lack of training of women workers damages their working conditions”

Marta Zimmermann Verdejo

Director of the Department of Research and Information of the National Institute of Safety and Hygiene at Work (INSHT)

Improvement “The increasing coordination between organisations and institutions is very positive to go ahead in risk management”

Can you offer, resulting from your research, some special conclusion regarding risk management in the workplace and women? Risk management services must work hard and focus their efforts on women workers in order to deal with those needs in training and information, risk assessment and the right to health watch. On the other hand, it is most important to make workers aware and focus on those sectors where shortages are detected which are for instance the service sector at restaurants and other smaller activities such as hairdressing salons, etc.

Why are we talking about women and risk management in the workplace? Because it is a topic not only social agents are concerned about but also researchers and society in general. Because there really are certain differentiating elements regarding the health of men and women workers and, on the other hand, tasks and risks are differentiated between genres and that makes women more vulnerable than men in certain risks and violence.

Inequality “Prevention activities are less frequent in women than in men”

And is it not necessary for women to play a more active role to be informed? Exactly. They must play a more active role.

arta Zimmermann, a doctor specialised in prevention medicine and public health, is director of the Department of Research and Information of the National Institute of Safety and Hygiene at Work (INSHT), of the Ministry of Labour. She took part in the 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks with a paper on women and work from the point of view of safety and health. In this interview, Zimmermann shows that there are differentiating elements between work health of men and women to the detriment of the latter. In this regard, she thinks that “the lack of training for women workers damages their working conditions”.

Do Spanish rules protect women properly regarding risk management in the workplace? Yes. Absolutely. In any case, through the analysis I have carried out for this Conference it is evident that in the case of women workers there is a lack of training and that has effects on her work conditions

and on damages to her health in general. On the other hand, risk management activities are less frequent in the case of women than of men. Certain difference is noticeable in the assessment of risk or in the medical checkups and this is especially so not so much in the industry sector but in some activities in the services sector as in shops and restaurants.

is more and more coordination among organisations, autonomous communities, national administration and even at European Union level and I believe that is most positive in order to go forward in implanting the culture of risk management in society. Zimmermann read a paper on women and work

Are you optimistic or pessimistic regarding the low amount of employment for women due to the risk of pregnancy and the ensuing maternity leave? I have no information on this regard but it would be interesting to have information at this special moment in order to know which groups are being dismissed in larger amounts if working conditions have worsened. It would be interesting to know if there is any discrimination.

Zimmermann is a doctor specialised in prevention medicine

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

What is your opinion of this Conference and its most important result, the commitment stemming from the Declaration of the Canary Islands on Risk Management in the Workplace? There are many of us working at risk management. What I notice is that there

theme BLOCK NEW WORK ORGANISATION SYSTEMS IN RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE WORKPLACE

Teleworking and prevention

Javier Pinilla García

Research Co-ordinator at the National Institute of Safety and Hygiene at Work (INHST)

MODERATOR Antonio Alastrué Tierra

Aragón Director General of Labour

avier Pinilla, coordinator of Research at the National Institute of Safety and Hygiene at Work (INSHT) started his paper on teleworking and risk management explaining that teleworking is a flexible way to organise work which appeared in the 1990s and the expectations regarding its expansions have not been fulfilled. According to a poll of 2005 in Europe and Spain steady teleworking from home is only done by 2% of the active population.

From left to right, Javier Pinilla and Antonio Alastrué

As several world experts have pointed out the idea that new technologies would allow us to “work from home” has not proved very realistic. On the contrary, the new information and communication technologies make it possible to work from any place; that is, “the mobile or portable office, the individual moving freely and connected to the Internet at all times from different places”. That is, it is not teleworking from home but mobile teleworking that seems to have more future although it is sporadically carried out at home (according to the same poll, nearly 9% of Europeans could be included in this category if we take into account this kind of teleworkers). The relevant component of this flexible way of organising work is the intensive use of computer and communication technologies (TIC/CCT). Its constant price and size reduction allows for its mobile use. It is also good for flexible working hours, which is of increasing interest both for companies and certain workers who wish to have an easier conciliation of work and private life. On the other hand, this system of working is particularly well adapted to the development of new ways of production in the service economy and the knowledge economy as it allows a separation between the place of production and the actual premises of the company. This in turn means non-traditional ways of measuring workers performance and an increasing trust of the company in its teleworkers. The difficulty of measuring the extent of this way of organisation stems in part from the inaccurate definition of the term itself. The

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

term teleworker is usually employed to refer to activities which use TIC permanently from the worker’s home, this is the so called “steady telework at home”. Another kind is that of workers who combine working at home and at the office during the week, this is called “alternating telework at home”. Another case is that of those who alternate working at the company’s office with working from centres of shared resources, satellite offices, airports and other means of transport, hotels, etc. including their homes. This is called “nomad telework”. As a result of these unclear distinctions, there are very few surveys which measure accurately the incidence of this type of work organisation. In 2003 the public employment service (INEM) drew up a “Study on the incidence of the information society on the work market” in which combining different sources calculated between 350,000 and 400,000 teleworkers in Spain at the time. The report on the incidence in companies is more accurate estimating, according to a representative poll, that only 3.1% of companies with over five employees said they had teleworkers in their staff. For their part, the National Institute of Statistics (INE) has been carrying out a poll since 2002 on the use of TIC and electronic trade in companies. According to this source of information, on a sample of nearly 30,000 big and small companies in 2008 14.7% of them had “employees who regularly worked outside the company’s premises (at least half day weekly) and who used telematic means to connect with the TIC systems of the company”.

Javier Pinilla explained the risks of teleworking and the features of this new system of work

In this paper using information from the Fourth European Poll on Working Conditions we shall specifically analyse work conditions and risks affecting teleworkers which in the said poll reach almost 9% of European employees, through the information supplied by the employees themselves. This figure can be divided into a 2.3 of steady home teleworkers and 6.4% alternating or nomad teleworkers according to the classification explained above. 70% of this group receives a salary and 30% are self-employed or have no employees. Therefore we see that in proportion the different telework systems are more frequent in selfemployed than in wage-earners. By activity they are most often found in real estate, banking, education and health. Their most common posts are professionals, managers, experts and sales agents. By genre, men teleworkers are 9.04% of the total male working population while women are 8% of the female workers in Europe. The ability to organise working hours is one of the most evident advantages of teleworking as opposed to other workers, which means an easier conciliation. However, they are more affected by long working hours and Sunday work.

“Being exposed to hand to arm repetitive movements are more frequent in home teleworkers”

PAPERS/ROUND TABLES

theme BLOCK ROAD SAFETY IN RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE WORKPLACE

Risk management when travelling

Exposure to hand or arm repetitive movements are more frequent in steady home teleworkers than in the average worker. Using TIC means it is easy to contact the work centre or the company’s head office but it also means you can be easily contacted by your boss and colleagues at any time with the risk of intruding in the worker’s private life. This often happens to teleworkers.

Jaime Moreno García-Cano

Provincial Head of Road Traffic of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

Indicators relating to work at high rates and very strict and short deadlines affect both categories of teleworkers more than the average worker. The most usual sources of these demands come directly from clients, students, patients, etc. as well as the need of reaching production and performance goals.

Moderator Paulo Morgado de Carvalho

Inspector General of Working Conditions of Portugal

Teleworkers are more often affected by making sure of the quality of the work done, solving problems, doing complex tasks as well as the need to learn new things. On the other hand, they enjoy more freedom in doing their tasks and it is easier for them to decide breaks and holidays than for the other workers. In conclusion, teleworkers’ work is intellectually and emotionally more demanding.

he provincial head of Traffic of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Jaime Moreno, talked about the actions carried out by his department in risk management regarding travelling. Moreno showed the most interesting statistics in this regard as well as the evolution in risk management, the reasons to include road safety in companies, the goals and agents involved, the lines of action and the implantation phases.

The health problems they complain about above the average reflect the nature of their task. Their main work related health complaints are eye problems, migraines, stomach aches, insomnia, irritability, and stress. This data provides an approach to a phenomenon which despite having evidently adapted to such a critical economic moment like the current one has not developed as much as it was expected. Some of the obstacles, as pointed out by experts, are a certain judicial insecurity, a business mentality unwilling to lose control over the development of work, as well as distrusting trade unions due to the risk of inadequate working conditions. In this regard, there are problems of ergonomic nature, too long working hours, workers’ isolation to face problems which may arise in the course of work and the ensuing stress as well as limitations to their careers. The signing of the European Framework Agreement in 2002 by European trade unions and employers associations in which basic guidelines are established to introduce teleworking, as well as definite supporting measures from different administrations, like the Concilia Plan, show the shared advantages for both company and worker offered by this system.

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

Jaime Moreno during his speech

Advance “The relevant component of this flexible way of organising work is the intensive use of computer and communication technologies”

Road accidents have human and economic consequences. In Spain they mean an expense of 18,000 million euros a year, which is 2% of the GDP. Every deceased means a cost of 860,000 euros and every injured, 10,400 euros. In view of this, Jaime Moreno believes “accidents are not accidental. Road safety is a shared responsibility and so isolated actions are no good; on the contrary, we have to set ourselves plausible goals and get civil society involved”. Road accidents at work are considered as a work accident even though it does not take place in the company. There are two kinds of work accidents: in itinere (going to and coming from work) and in mission (in working hours). In both cases accidents occur in city or inter-city roads. Regarding the former, in itinere, they usually go down in the holiday periods and take place from Monday to Friday. They also co-

PAPERS/ROUND TABLES

incide with the starting and ending of work (between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m.). Road accidents in mission only differ from the other in that they occur during the morning (between 08.00 a.m. and 3.00 p.m.). By genre, men are more widely affected by road accidents (in both types) and women register a higher percentage in itinere. Regarding age, 40% of people between 20 and 30 suffer accidents in itinere. By type of vehicle, lorries, vans and motorbikes, to a lesser degree, register accidents in mission; while in itinere cars (58%), mopeds (22%) and motorbikes (12%) are usually involved. As for the type of accident, 72% of crashes occur in mission; while in itinere there are crashes, slight contacts and going out of the lane.

Fact Road accidents generate an expense of 18,000 million euros a year in Spain, which is 2% of the GDP

In this scenario, Jaime Moreno considers necessary to include road safety in risk management and get employers and employees involved. The head of Traffic wonders why such a high percentage (el 24%) of work accidents occurs on the road. Of the work accidents on the road, 31% are at professional transport and 69%, are non professional. “The key is then, non professional workers because they make up 69% of accidents”, he stressed. 35% of fatal road accidents occur in mission and 65%, in itinere. The key is in travelling to and from work because that is 65%. Moreno pointed out that road accidents while working are occupational accidents even if they do not take place at the company

In Jaime Moreno’s opinion, although Spain has made great advances in matters of risk management at the workplace, especially after passing the Law of 1995, and there are delegates, experts and risk management services, there has been no improvement in road safety and accidents and it is so reflected in companies and in the lack of training.

Paulo Morgado Inspector General of Working Conditions of Portugal was the moderator

“Risk management culture –Moreno said- has been kept within the workplace but we have to look beyond. The employer feels responsible of what happens in the premises but is not concerned about what happens outside. To this we must add that employees do not see a road accident as a work accident. This is the mistake we must mend”. The speaker specified that Work Risk Management relies on the worker, the machine and the environment; while Road Risk Management relies on the driver, the vehicle and the road. “It is similar, it is analogous, it is the same culture”, he stated. Both rely on avoiding human mistakes through training, information and awareness. The use of technology is also important so that even if the human error takes place there is no accident.

“Despite these analogies and similarities –Moreno said- the two types of risk management have followed different courses and do not communicate”. The reasons to incorporate road safety to companies include the social and human cost, the economic Lack of awareness costs (illness-leaves, work undone “Employees do not see a road accident as a work and reorganisation of work) and the accident. This is the mistake we must mend” social liability of companies. On the other hand, the agents that should be involved in this fight are the administrations, employers, trade unions, work accident insurers associations and insurance companies. Regarding the lines of action to follow he believes there should be more and better information, coordinating research and special prosecutors for road safety as well as analysing the costs a company incurs into for their employees’ accidents. Jaime Moreno also thinks information campaigns for workers and employers should be made apart from advertising better practice and promoting road safety plans in companies. To this end, he explained the phases of implantation of suitable action lines in companies which are basically training, analysis or study of accidents, and in the third place, drawing a road safety plan for the company.

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

theme BLOCK PSYCHOSOCIAL RISKS

Burn out in health and education

Manuel Fidalgo Vega

Ergonomics and applied psycho-sociology expert at the National Centre for New Technologies

Moderator José Trasobares de Dios

Technical Secretary General at the Council for Health of the Canary Islands Government

anuel Fidalgo, psychologist and qualified in business management, is an expert in ergonomics and applied psycho-sociology at the National Centre for New Technologies. In his paper Burn out in health and education pointed out that the name of this pathology goes back to 1974. On using this term we are referring to a problem of individual connotations, also known as non-adaptation to work, with specific symptoms: emotional tiredness, depersonalisation and low personal fulfilment.

Facts “A hospital or a school work better if employees enjoy better health and quality of life at work”

The burn out syndrome is a pathology deriving from intercourse of the individual with certain harmful psychosocial conditions at work. We shall call the product of the said intercourse the burnt out by work syndrome, usually called the burn out syndrome. When correct evaluation and management of these psychosocial risks are not done, especially in the education and health sectors, the worker is not protected properly or at any rate, work is not adapted to the person, burnt out has a higher incidence. The need to research on the burnt out by work syndrome is associated to the right to health protection every worker has as soon as they become part of an organisation. This right implies not being subjected to the exposure of causes which can lead to worsen health. In the case of burn out this damage takes place due to causes of exposure to psychosocial risks, organisational, or work lay out in environments where human services is demanded. These demands are, in the current socioeconomic situation, increasing, specifically those referring to emotional elements.

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

Emotional work, defined as the demand to express socially acceptable emotions in providing services is a key element of this syndrome. Similarly, the interest in the study of work stress processes in these sectors and the concern of different organisations on the quality of the working life provided to employees, stress the need of a better knowledge of the burn out phenomenon. A hospital or a school work more efficiently if their employees are healthier and have a better quality of life at work; if it is not so, it has negative consequences on the organisation (more incidents and accidents, absenteeism, rotation, decreasing productivity, decreasing quality, etc.).

From left to right, Manuel Fidalgo and José Trasobares

The consequences to society derived from the professionals of these two sectors being affected by this syndrome should not be overlooked, both in service and economic costs. Although in general being able to identify and diagnose this pathology is important for health professionals, for those who work specifically at risk management at the workplace it is more important to identify exposure factors which may lead to this picture of health damage, more or less serious or with more or less consequences for the individual.

José Trasobares was moderator

So it is from this point of view of risk management and taking into account the existing knowledge we have, that this paper wants to concentrate on. Fidalgo exposed briefly those conceptual and cause aspects of process and consequences related to burnt out by work syndrome in these two areas of activity. The speaker presented some incident data of different variables prior to the appearance of the syndrome, it being on these variables that the works of risk management have to focus on in order to avoid the occurrence of burn out. With this aim, the psychologist put forward some prevention ideas regarding the sources of risk of the syndrome in both sectors. In Manuel Fidalgo’s opinion, the burn out syndrome does not only affect people working in health and education but workers in other sectors too. “In fact, sentences acknowledging burn out, of which there are ten, most of which in second instance, affect varied professions, like bus drivers. Health and education make up about 20% or 30% but this should be clarified”, he concluded.

“The burn out syndrome does not only affect health and education workers but other sectors too”

theme BLOCK PSYCHOSOCIAL RISKS

Bullying in the workplace

Cristóbal Molina Navarrete

Professor of Labour and Social Security Law at the University of Jaen

Moderator José Luis Villar Rodríguez

General Director of Labour at the Ministry of Labour and Immigration

ristóbal Molina, professor of Labour Law at the University of Jaen, started his paper on bullying in the workplace by mentioning the Constitution of the International Labour Organisation, drawn up in Philadelphia (1944), where it was stated, “with more solemnity than practical views”, that work, as a productive factor, is inseparable of the person who carries it out. Three decades later the Spanish Constitutional Court proclaimed, that “signing a work contract does not imply in any way the depravation for one of the parties of the rights the Constitution grants them as citizens”. With this it did nothing but recall the previous statement and take a further step -related to the best judicial tradition- that of the Constitution of Weimar: Social Law should not only be concerned with guaranteeing the existence of workers but also their “essence” as persons. But as Molina put forward, where are these values and the constitutional feeling of a people when a clinical psychologist stated, and dozens of followers accepted, and thousands of workers resigned themselves to believe that, according to Leymann, “the work milieu is the only battlefield where you can still kill someone without fearing being sent to Court”? As it is known this is still the dominant feeling today of a high number of workers who suffer bullying in the workplace which is one of the most extreme forms of violence. The ILO has insisted that violence at work in general, and bullying in particular, is a widely spread occupational risk which causes high socio-economical personal damage, hence the interest shown by employers and workers to do whatever is possible to get rid of it and prevent it. Now, we may ask ourselves how to prevent it and if we are really dealing with an occupational risk, one of those emerging risks, like psychosocial risks. In his opinion, uneasiness is caused by the imbalance between conviction and action in as much as up to now neither the ILO nor the EU have wanted to regulate violence in the workplace as a general concept, or bullying in any of its kinds.

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

On the other hand, Spanish legislation has not dared to include it within the sphere of work or professional risk management. In this direction, Law LO 3/2007, despite establishing the duty of employers to prevent work violence in the workplace has From left to right, Cristóbal Molina and José Luis Villar not deemed it necessary to affect the Law on Risk Management in the Workplace. But when it has intervened expressly regarding bullying, it has either placed it under the tutelage of fundamental rights or has tried to fight against this evil by penalizing it, via criminal law –Blueprint of the Law for the Reform of the Criminal Law Code, which again puts forward the idea of categorising bullying in the workplace as a criminal offence, including it in article 173 CP-. Cristóbal Molina maintained that the institution in charge of guaranteeing the compliance with risk management, that is, the Work and Social Security Inspectorate (ITSS) also doubted, or rather denied, that bullying had a work risk nature. The speaker pointed out that it was expressed clearly in the Technical Criterium 34/2003 (on psychological harassment) which ruled out applying the Law on Risk Management to bullying in the workplace. “However, this instrument of vigilance seems to be changing its approach”, he added. In this context of uncertainty, Molina is in favour of a reflection to throw light on such an important matter and in order to lay out the problem, he brought up a recent statement made by the CEOE, in relation to an innovative instrument of conventional character. It referred to the well-known Community Framework Agreement on Harassment and Violence, signed in 2007 at European level and transferred to the Spanish labour relations system in 2008. Before this instrument, Spanish employers understand that: “It has been chosen to treat it differently from risk management in the workplace in order to place it with the management of human resources and the implementation of ways to prevent and see to the possible cases of bullying that may occur” – Summary document, May 2007-. In practical terms it soon follows that: “In the face of postulates which defend costly systematic actions applicable in all businesses, we have opted for another approach based on establishing discreet ways of communication destined to potential victims of bullying”. “As it can be easily seen we are facing an evident example of this trend, increasingly spread in the EU, which questions the role of risk evaluation in prevention policies, accused of being an extremely formal and costly instrument, at any rate, not yielding visible benefits, Molina said and then added that it was “an interested rather than interesting argument”. In order to contrast the situation he brought up the new ITSS Prevention Technical Criterium, the CT 69/2009 which starts from the application of the Law on prevention: The measures of risk management the employer must apply in the event of bullying or violence in the workplace he hears about or

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theme BLOCK RISK OF EXPOSURE TO PHYSICAL AGENTS

THERMAL STRESS IN GREENHOUSES

should have heard about are those which best adapt to every single situation, applying the general obligations of articles 14, 15, 16, 18, 22 and 25 of the Law on Occupational Risk Management”. Once this important statement is established which deeply corrects –although the Technical Criterium is less radical- the first position, “something we welcome almost fervently”, the problem now is not just determining “the ways of action of the ITSS on specific facts”, but previously, as he stated, which are the specific actions we should demand from the employer?

Pilar Armendáriz Pérez de Ciriza

Senior expert in risk management at the National Institute for Safety and Hygiene in the Workplace (INHST)

Moderator Fernando José Vélez Álvarez

The Professor said that different lines of judicial doctrine can be found in Spain arguing that preventing bullying in the workplace is not an obligation of employers. At the same time, it is said that there are no rules stating which measures have to be taken in the face of risk factors but other doctrines have pointed out the occupational nature of this psychosocial risk.

Molina is a Professor of Labour and Social Security Law

In a midway position we find judicial doctrines which accept to include bullying at work within occupational risk prevention but end up by not admitting any relevant practical consequence to this relation. Many statements reduce the meaning of risks regarding bullying. “What I wish to make evident here –Molina said- is that it is not an isolated position or an option that is only noticeable at the Courts of Justice. It is actually a point of view which the legislation seems to share”. The Professor of Labour Law again put forward: “Why have legislators not included general genre violence, bullying for genre reasons and sexual harassment in the Law on Risk Management in the Workplace? The first guideline, according to the speaker, is that bullying is an occupational risk. It is therefore necessary to design an anti-violence policy that points to solving conflicts and to organisational factors.

“Bullying in the workplace is considered one of the most harmful types of violence in work environments”

In the second place, it is not possible to overlook the specialities of bullying as an occupational risk. “It seems evident that using the classical approach of risk evaluation far from solving the problem reduces it to a formal approach. To this we must add the weaknesses that this type of evaluations have today, which are often mixed up in the area of psychosocial risks”. Therefore, in his opinion, the key is the model of management of that risk rather than just its evaluation. It is impossible to manage risks without the participation of workers. Molina defended that the psycho-technical analysis must be complemented with an organisational or managerial approach in as much as bullying cannot take place without suitable work organisational conditions. “In my opinion –he concluded- the practical application of the Community agreement as well as taking seriously the preventive obligations set out in article 48 LO 3/2007 will be useful instruments to advance on this path, giving more importance to the preventing aspect than to correcting and penalising. In any case, it is still true that in the case of this risk prevention is better than cure”.

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

Murcia Director General of Labour

ilar Armendáriz, senior expert in risk management at the National Institute for Safety and Hygiene in the Workplace (INHST) explained in her paper thermal stress and the risk of suffering it in greenhouses, providing statistical data. Armendáriz also set out the obligations of employers and workers in order to guarantee safety and health at work in these places meant for cultivation.

In the year 2008 the surface area of greenhouses in Spain amounted to 65,989 hectares. The risk of working at greenhouses comes from sun radiation and long wave infrared radiation. In July 2005 the trade union Comisiones Obreras reported that preventing measures to fight high temperatures at greenhouses were not being complied with and so workers were being subjected to “very high” thermal stress. One year later, in July 2006, the same trade union reported the death of a 37 year old worker due to heat-stroke while working at a greenhouse in Las Norias, Almería, for which reason he had been admitted in the Intensive Care Unit of the Hospital del Poniente, although he died the following day in the morning. According to a poll-diagnosis on work health at agriculture greenhouses in Almería in 2006, out of the 108 workers interviewed, 70% noticed risk of high heat. Similarly, in the first national poll in the farming sector carried out in 2007, it was seen that of 1,503 self-employed workers interviewed, 220 worked at greenhouses, of which 94,1% found their job uncomfortable due to the heat. The maximum temperatures registered in 2006 in three Spanish towns -Alcantarilla (Murcia), Almería, Seville and Las Palmas- where they work at greenhouses show the risk of working in those places. In Seville and Alcantarilla there were over 40º C whilst in Almería and Las Palmas, more than 35º C. In this context, the speaker said that thermal stress is due to different reasons: high temperatures, unsuitable work and clothing. These items can produce a physiological excess through heat causing damage to health.

Pilar Armendáriz Pérez de Ciriza and Fernando José Vélez Álvarez

PAPERS/ROUND TABLES Caution “Pathologic effects of heat stroke can appear rapidly; excessive sweating (dehydration and cramps) cutaneous vessel enlargement (syncope due to heat) and the effects of the breakdown of the temperature regulating system which implies death peril" Environmental factors typical of work at greenhouse are: high air temperature inside, thermal sun radiation that penetrates the greenhouse and the relative humidity. To this we must add personal factors of workers like the time of heat exposure, lack of acclimatization apart from obesity, age, health, medication, bad physical shape, lack of rest, alcohol, drug consumption and excess of caffeine. Among the health damages due to thermal stress in greenhouses are heat-stroke, exhaustion, syncope, cramps and dehydration. As Pilar Armendáriz warned, pathological effects can appear quickly. They start as a result of excessive sweating (dehydration and cramps) cutaneous vessel enlargement (syncope due to heat) and the effects of the breakdown of the temperature regulating system, the so called heat stroke, which implies death peril. The appropriate measures to prevent and control thermal stress in greenhouses are: the right lay out of the premises, systems to improve thermal conditions, work organisation and specific medical vigilance. Training, information and participation are also included, along with other factors. Improving environmental conditions is achieved by reducing heat (whitening, screens, ventilation and cooling systems) and diminishing humidity (ventilation). Pilar Armendáriz showed the latest systems to optimise environmental conditions in greenhouses, underlining nebulization by evaporation cooling. As preventive measures at an organisational level, she mentioned acclimatisation to heat in as much as workers are acclimatised when they work in heat gradually, progressively and repeatedly in time. For work inside greenhouses and exposed to heat, workers must undergo medical examination. People prone to thermal stress due to age, overweight, pregnancy, cardio-circulatory complaints, alcoholism and medication with counter-indications will be taken into account. Employers must watch weather forecasts, establish fixed breaks or better still allow workers to stop when they need it. They must also establish that tasks requiring more physical effort are carried out at the coolest time and modify working hours, apart from informe employees of risks, effects and preventing measures. They must also make sure that all workers are acclimatised according to the physical effort they are going to make and allow them to adapt the work rate to their tolerance to heat. On their part, workers must inform their bosses if they are adapted to heat or not; if they have ever had any problems with heat; of the chronic diseases they may suffer; whether they are taking any medication and adapt the rate of work to their tolerance and the temperature. It is also their duty to say if they are feeling unwell, stop working and rest in a cool place until they are well, because it can be very dangerous to go on working. They must avoid driving if they are not completely recovered and drink water frequently even if they are not thirsty. In short, Pilar Armendáriz said, thermal stress due to heat is the result of the interaction of three factors: environmental conditions, physical activity and clothing. It can bring about inadmissible risks to health even if environmental conditions are not extreme. It is necessary to assess and prevent thermal stress in greenhouses and that means taking into account the three types of factors. If they go over a given level of thermal stress, the risk can become serious and imminent and have as a final result the worker’s death. The affected worker must rest in a cool place and not return to work under those conditions until they are fully recovered. It has to be taken into account that changes in the magnitude of the thermal stress and the worker’s vulnerability can take place in very short time. This is why attention to changes must be paid –weather conditions, conditions inside greenhouses, physical activity, clothing, etc- and especially of to the signs and symptoms of exposed workers. 54

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

theme BLOCK RISKS OF EXPOSURE TO PHYSICAL AGENTS

Preventing occupational risks of exposure to electromagnetic fields María José Rupérez Calvo

Director of the Physical Risks Programme at the National Centre for New Technologies (CNNT)

Moderator Félix Sanz Herrero

Spanish Association of Electronic, Information and Communication Technologies Companies (AETIC)

aría José Rupérez, director of the Programme of Physical Risks at the New Technologies National Centre, started her paper by saying that exposure at work to electromagnetic fields from zero herzts to 300 gigaherzts is a problem that still draws attention, not because it is new but because the challenges it poises to the international community have not been fully solved. This means there is not as yet a specific legislation to protect from this risk. In her paper, Rupérez summarised the current situation regarding this issue. Regarding assessment criteria and the legislative framework, she pointed out that on the one hand, there are scientific criteria to assess the risk when exposed to alternate and static fields, drawn up by the ICNIRP (International Commission for non Ionizing Radiation Protection) in 1998 and 1994 respectively. These criteria establish the biological values whose levels must not be exceeded (basic restrictions) for each frequency interval, and physical measurable magnitudes (reference levels) which correspond to the basic restrictions and are calculated on the base of the worst possible exposure, that is, when the connection between the field and the person is maximum. Therefore, it is possible to exceed reference levels without exceeding basic restrictions, provided it is checked by calculation. The criteria of the ICNIRP have been adopted by Directive 2004/40/CE on work exposure to electromagnetic fields, (CEM), but changing the name as it establishes limit values (VL = biological values) and values which lead to an action (VA = measurable magnitudes) although they are actually the same values as the ICNIRP’s. Compliance with VA guarantees fulfilment of VL, but when VA is exceeded, it must be proven that VL is not exceeded. Regarding static magnetic fields, criteria have only been partially adopted, making it difficult to have them implemented. 55

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The implementation of the Directive, initially set for 30/04/2008 has had to be delayed until 2012 (Directive 2008/46/CE of 23 April), until more data is available. The advance in scientific knowledge through new research on the effects on health of electromagnetic radiations published after the Directive was adopted had led to the review of the criteria used up to date: recommendations of the ICNIRP and the WHO. Once the new research is examined, the ICNIRP and the WHO will publish their conclusions, which could lead to modifying the limit and action values.

Once they are published the lack of definition of article 3.3 of the current Directive would be solved: “While there are no European harmonised rules from the European Committee of Electrotechnical Standardisation, Member States can use other scientifically based rules in order to evaluate, measure and/or calculate exposure to electromagnetic fields”.

Another issue which emerged was the need to analyse in more detail “the incidence of applying 2004/40/CE in the use of medical processes based on image magnetic resonance and in certain industrial applications”. For this reason, the Commission started a research with the aim to “guarantee a balance between preventing the possible health risks of exposed workers and the access to the benefits drawn from using these medical technologies”. Similarly, according to María José Rupérez, the European Commission, with the aim of reviewing all the information available on the biological effects of electromagnetic fields and the potential work risks, and make it known properly, financed Project EMF-NET, a coordinated action for 2004–2008 with the Sixth Framework Programme of the European Union. EMF-NET has started to publish reports which help to interpret the results obtained and to define the policies on health of the European Union. To date the following have been published: a guide to work exposure to low frequency electromagnetic fields, a research on work exposure to image magnetic resonance in medicine and many documents which can be downloaded at the EMF-NET website. The WHO on their part, draws up yearly reports with new information and updates publications related both to work and public health through their international project on electromagnetic fields. By a European Commission mandate, European and national standardization committees, in the case of Spain, are working hard to reach harmonised technical rules so that they can comply with Directive 2004/40/CE no matter how much values may change. The EN rules must systematise the assessment of exposure to electromagnetic fields and provide measure and calculation methods as well as processes to assess workplaces in which exposure is low without needing to take measures.

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

The necessary rules are of three types: generic, for work or public exposure, and specific or product rules by which the manufacturer guarantees the user the compliance with Directive and/or Recommendation 1999/519/CE, for instance the base station of mobile telephones, electronic vigilance gadgets, induction ovens, etc. The basic rules, with assessment and measure methods for those cases where there are no specific rules.

From left to right, María José Rupérez and Félix Sanz

Rupérez said that there is still specific legislation on risks due to electromagnetic fields exposure

Coordination “European and national standardization committees are working hard to reach harmonised technical rules”

The generic rule, FprEN 50499 (final draft, passed at the end of 2008 and publication estimated for May 2009) develops an assessment method by steps which starts by identifying work positions and equipment which are not dangerous, with limited issuing power which can be assessed without measuring, goes on with positions and equipments which comply with the rules and the rest, where measurement is necessary. There still are many actions to be taken before Directive 2004/40/CE is modified and implemented, and Rupérez mentioned some: it is possible, in view of the new findings, to refine exposure criteria, adjusting basic restrictions, interpolating limit values among frequency intervals, improving the processes of numeric calculation to estimate exposure, etc.

Moderator, Félix Sanz Herrero, from AETIC

There will be a need for technical guides on radiofrequencies, ELF fields and static fields that supply guidance on sources identification, procedures to measure and assess exposure and also start health vigilance systems for work exposure.

Finally, there is still the challenge of knowing the impact of the developments in technology, workers being exposed to new Work to be done sources of electromagnetic fields It will be necessary to have technical and studying the case of especially sensitive workers, issues which are guides for radiofrequencies, ELF fields and currently a priority for the groups static fields providing guidance in source working on electromagnetic fields identification, measure procedures and at the ICNIRP. evaluation of exposure

theme BLOCK EMERGING RISKS

Emerging risks in construction works

carry out different types or ambiguous tasks and a clear increase in non-declared work. All that said above entails more uncertainty, an increase in tension and competitiveness, a negative mood and emotional exhaustion which translate into a vulnerable body and a tendency to suffer work-related diseases.

Luis Rosel Ajamil

Head of safety and health at the Construction Work Foundation

Taking as reference the total number of accidents at work registered in Spain, Luis Rosel informed that more than 33 % of those tagged fatal occur in building as well as 34 % of serious or very serious accidents. Most of them logically occur due to falls from high places as this is the most typical feature in the sector.

Moderator Ana Acosta Soler

Head of the Provincial Inspectorate of Labour and Social Security of Santa Cruz de Tenerife

The circumstances stated above give as a result that not enough attention is paid to other types of accidents like those caused by non-traumatic pathologies (heart-attacks, brain haemorrhage, etc), traffic (in itinere and in mission) and of ergonomic nature. Due to their qualitative importance we must single out ergonomic risks.

uis Rosel, head of safety and health at the Construction Work Foundation started by delimiting the term “construction” as an activity including very different activities which, in general, have a high rate of work accidents. The productive organisation of construction has a very complex network which is different from other economy sectors. To this we must add its temporary character which has its own peculiarities and differences, the shifting of workplaces and the typology of work risks.

According to the data provided by official statistics on work accidents, in the past few years over 33% of accidents in the building sector were caused by over-efforts. This proportion in turn means almost 25% on the total number of over-efforts and 8% on the total number of accidents.

In this context, research on emerging risks in this sector is especially complex. By emerging risk is understood all new risks on the increase. The term new means the risk did not exist or that it was a known factor which is now considered a risk because there has been a change in social or public perception or because there are new scientific discoveries. The past years have seen a change in work organisation in the building sector whose main feature is an increase in the number of small and medium-sized companies, a more intense work rate, an increase of precarious work, high subcontracting and different contract relationship. On the other hand, different polls on work conditions carried out by European and Spanish organisations show that workers have a different notion of risk. And so there is more concern for psychosocial risks which entails more attention is paid to muscle-skeletal and mental complaints than to injuries caused by material conditions (falls, getting trapped, cuts, blows, etc.). The business structure in the building sector is extremely divided: 82% of companies have less than ten workers and almost 27%, have just one. Only 7% of companies have over 20 workers. We must also point out that 21% is made up of immigrant workers. At a different level, it has to be stressed that the current economic cycle, affecting construction in particular, implies an increase of precarious work, the lengthening of working hours, the need to

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

Luis Rosel pointed out that the most serious accidents in the sector are falls from heights

“By emerging risk is understood all new risks on the increase”

To deal with the rest of emerging risks in the building sector we shall classify them as follows: building processes; physical; chemical; psychosocial; and related to organisation. The building processes which entail emerging risks are underground works (road and railroad infrastructure); works at heights (buildings, road and railroad infrastructure, assembling Telecommunication facilities, aerial generators, etc); using heat sources; working outdoors; industrialisation of the sector (using very large ready-made elements which are put up and set by means of “dry” securing). Among emerging physical risks we must mention noise and vibration caused by the use of machinery to move the earth, vehicles and certain work equipment, like ionising radiations produced by the use of equipment to refurbish buildings and the inspection of soldered joints and frames. Emerging risk of chemical nature which more often occur in the building sector are caused by asbestos fibres present in the execution of demolishing and refurbishing works; the cancerous powder produced by the mechanisation and installation of hard woods; solvents found in lacquers, varnishes, paints, sealers; and bituminous products employed during building and exploiting of roads. Psychosocial risks due to organisation have not been subject of concern or acknowledgement by the different risk management agents. This fact, together with the generalised idea that the risks of a psychosocial and

INTERVIEW

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organisational nature are on the increase, both in intensity and scope, mean they can be considered emerging regarding the construction sector. There are different conditions which lead to psychosocial problems at work. The ones that are most widespread in the construction sector are work instability, feeling of insecurity, long working hours, and intensifying production. The sector is characterised, to a larger extent than in other activities, by entailing unforeseeable work due to it being mostly temporary and workers mobility. This is mostly due to the features of the productive process (works are temporary) as well as work organisation (employment of human resources) and it is currently getting worse due to a decrease in activity and employment.

From left to right, Luis Rosel and moderator Ana Acosta

The damages to health caused by this situation, as in most psychosocial and organisational risks, are stress and depression. Another risk of a psychosocial nature is due to work being intensified and making working hours far too long due to the increase of pressure on the production process undergone in the past few years with the aim of having the works completed in a relatively short period (works deadlines).

Figures “The construction sector represents more than 33% of fatal accidents in the workplace and nearly 34% of serious or very serious accidents”

To this we must add travelling time to and from work. This type of risk not only affects production workers but the whole sector, even at managerial level. The main consequences are stress and anxiety. But literature also includes the possibility of there being more accidents related to safety conditions as a result of this way of organising work, it may be in combination with psychosocial risks or directly. On the other hand, the little specific research on stress and burn out state their incidence in the construction sector, normally due to the kina or lack of leadership, role conflict or mobbing. Similarly, other aspects related to work conditions, like bad condition of equipment (safety and health) can influence an increase of stress; and the lack of qualification in some crafts can lead to lack of motivation.

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

“The crisis in the sector must not imply cutting resources in risk prevention”

Luis Rosel is external consultant of ILO

Luis Rosel Ajamil

Head of the Safety and Health Department of the Construction Work Foundation

uis Rosel Ajamil, quantity surveyor, is the head of the Safety and Health Department of the Construction Work Foundation. He is a civil servant on leave at the National Institute for Safety and Health in the Workplace since 1974 and was head of La Rioja Office for Safety and Health in the Workplace for fourteen years. He is currently, apart from other responsibilities regarding work safety in construction, external consultant at the International Labour Organisation. After confirming “the complex situation” the building sector is currently going through in Spain, Luis Rosel called on employers in this activity so that “the situation of economic crisis does not lead to lowering the resources for risk management in the workplace”. Regarding the risks particular to this sector threatening the health and safety of workers, Rosel Ajamil said that this activity involved different threats because there are several types of works. He did confirm that due to “the sector being characterised by mobility and subcontracting, it is difficult to approach the emerging risks in this activity”. Questioned about the use of the term “emerging” regarding these risks, the expert answered that “they are considered emerging because these dangerous situations in the work context are new or have changed their social conception and they are now being paid more attention”. The representative of the Construction Work Foundation pointed out that from the 20th century on, with the appearance of new machinery

and the increasing use of new technologies, the building activity faces new threats for the workers’ safety and health. “New physical, chemical, biological, even psychosocial risks spring up”, he said. Regarding the latter he stated that due to increasing unemployment in this sector, psychosocial risks become more relevant, like stress, which also affects building workers and which is often due to professional instability or temporality. “More accidents happen in ergonomic risks although they may be slight. More than 30% of work accidents in Spain are due to this type of risks. Specifically, the building sector takes up 34% or ergonomic risks, Rosel claimed. Physical dangers for safety and health of building workers are working outdoors and the risk of suffering either very high or very low temperatures as well as sun radiation. Chemical risks are inhaling carcinogenic powders (in floors and woodwork) and the use of resins or varnish. Regarding the incidence of fatal accidents in construction, Luis Rosel mentioned that “30% of fatal accidents at the workplace occur in this sector. They are mostly falls from high places and getting trapped. There are also heart attacks and non-traumatic pathologies”.

Peculiarities “The main features of the construction sector are mobility and subcontracting which make it more difficult to deal with emerging risks” 61

theme BLOCK TRAINING IN RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE WORKPLACE

New Spanish official qualifications in risk management in the workplace Joaquín Catalá Alís

Professor of Civil Engineering Projects in Valencia Polytechnic University

Juan Guasch Farrás

Director of the National Centre of Working Conditions

Luis Álvarez Álvarez

Vice-rector of Academic Regulation and European Space for Higher Education at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria University

Margarita Ramos Quintana

Professor of Labour and Social Security Law at La Laguna University

Moderator Manuel Jorge Pérez

Director General of Professional Training and Adult Education of the Government of the Canary Islands

ew Spanish official qualifications in Risk Management in the Workplace is the title of this round table led by four speakers, mostly from universities, to approach from each of their spheres the future of training on this subject specially at this stage, when Spain is undergoing approval of universities degrees within the new European Space of Higher Education. The first to talk was Joaquín Catalá, a civil engineer and professor at Valencia Polytechnic University (UPV). Since 1993 he is director of masters on risk management in the workplace at UPV. With his experience training professionals related to work safety, Catalá believes that “we must anticipate not work accidents but the situations they generate”. Joaquín Catalá is very critical about the new master courses on risk management in the workplace, already approved by the Government of Spain in the European Space of Higher Education, (ESHE). He thinks that “in defining contents they have started in the middle even though there are three levels”. Specifically, he understands that the syllabuses have been done “in a hurry and society has not been asked what they want or need from risk management professionals”. But Joaquín Catalá is critical with a positive aim because as he says, “it is not a matter of restraining”. Besides, the syllabus of the masters is multidisciplinary because there are students from different degrees. In just one year they are supposed to know enough, that is why “I put forward the idea of creating a Degree in Risk Management in the Workplace, although I know it is complicated. I put it forward for the coming years”. The rush, the fact that it is not a faculty or school but an “intermediate entity” have impaired in his opinion, together with other reasons, the setting up of a Degree apart from the lack of funding and the problems to have credits acknowledged.

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

“When three years ago I considered setting up this master, I supported the idea, despite be- This round table was one of the best-attended in the lieving it was better to start with a degree”, he Convention confirms and assures he feels the need of this master to have a professional side. This is why I am critical about Bologna”. The new masters in risk management at the workplace are equivalent to the second cycle, will be accepted in the whole of Spain and allow access to a PhD. But in this professor’s opinion the problem is that the new master does not have an area agreed on at the European Union and therefore, in his view, the integration in Europe with the adaptation of university teachings to the new ESHE is not understood. “We cannot be disconnected from society; in fact there is a lack of common signatures. We want to have common signatures in this master course. This UPV engineer wonders whether when it came to defining this training, the opinion of employers, insurance associations and administrations have been taken into account and questions whether students of the course, coming from many different degrees, can actually take in so many subjects in such little time. The second speaker was Juan Guasch, director of the National Centre of Working Conditions, who stated the need to train professionals in risk management in order to answer to risk situations. Similarly he said caution was necessary because 85% of Spanish companies have under nine employees and there are accidents in small companies too. “This is why it is important to have experts trained for small companies”, and underlined the importance of these studies being validated by the University so that a common area of competence is established. He then went on to explain that the data of the International Labour Organisation show the relationship between accidents and competitiveness (ILO) with more competitive countries having lower number of accidents. Regarding how to have well trained experts in risk management at the workplace, Juan Guasch pointed out that in Spain the basis of training regarding this subject are included in Law 31/1995 and Royal Decree 39/1997. Both include the need of general training for workers and their agents and refer to the necessary training to be able to work in risk management. According to the 5th National Poll on Work Conditions carried out in 2003, the number of people trained in risk management at the workplace has increased and that the most important specialities in risk management are safety at the workplace, ergonomics and applied psychology. The 6th National Survey of 2007, also shows that the larger the company the more trained people there are. The general goals of the Spanish Strategy on Safety and Health at the Workplace (20072012) are the constant and significant reduction of work accidents and the continuous improvement in the safety and health conditions at work. It has two operative goals: those intended to improve the risk management systems at companies and those intended to public policies on this issue, among which they mention the need to “encourage the training in risk management” and includes in goal 6.3 the obligation to integrate these contents in those courses related with safety and health at the workplace. “Subjects related to safety and health in the workplace -Juan Guasch said- in the different university degree courses are usually compulsory or optional, they are not common sub-

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jects in any of the courses. At any rate, syllabuses regarding risk management can vary a great deal depending on the type of course and the university where it is taught”. The Spanish Strategy for Safety and Health in the Workplace itself point out that “postgraduate training at universities related to risk management at the workplace will be encouraged within the framework of the Bologna process as an exclusive mean to train professionals to work at top level tasks”. Based on this goal, Juan Guasch believes the discussion lies in whether to go on with the master course as such or include it in the so called Bologna Plan. Royal Decree 56/2005, of 21 January, by which official postgraduate studies are ruled in chapter two includes the regulation of the second cycle of university studies leading to a master degree. In this section it is said that “the Government may establish general guidelines and special access requirements in the studies leading to a master degree in those cases which, according to the valid regulations, the said master grants access to professionally regulated activities”.

maximum number of students admitted, the Coordination, Admission and Evaluation Commitee would make a selection giving preference to students with degrees in engineering, technical studies, and studies related to business management and organisation. Finally, the speaker pointed out that the three common modules in the master are harmonization and judicial scope in risk management, safety and health risks and ergonomic and psychosocial risks. The modules of the specialities are: safety techniques at the workplace, ergonomics and psycho-sociology as preventive techniques, and harmonization and judicial scope of risk management.

Margarita Ramos

On the other hand, Royal Decree 1837/2008 of 8 November, regarding the acknowledgement of professional qualifications, the term “regulated profession” appears in two cases: expert in risk management (intermediate level) and expert in occupational risk management (advance level).

The last speaker, Margarita Ramos Quintana, Professor of Labour and Social Security Law at La Laguna University (ULL), explained the current situation of the courses on Expert on Risk Management at the Workplace of La Laguna University and mentioned the experience gathered through the years having first done the master course in the 1997/1998 and the six successive courses which ended in 2006. It is now necessary to adapt this master course to the new structure of university degrees.

There is currently an Official University Master Course within the ESHE, but the proposal from universities, according to the Barcelona Meeting held in November 2008 and staged by the National Centre of Working Conditions is to apply to the Ministry of Science and Innovation for the adoption of decisions leading to the establishment of compulsory common minimum contents in all the master courses which can lead to working at the higher level of risk management at the workplace. And coherently it was agreed to ask the Minister of Employment to allow to work as experts in risk management only those people who have obtained an official master degree.

The regulation character of this course, its eminently professional end and the will to set a high level of autonomy in the managing of the course have led it to be put forward for its eventual approval as La Laguna University own degree. Among the positive aspects there is keeping the many prestigious experts from the INST and the ICASEL, as well as professionals outside this area. Similarly the opening toward future institutionalised formulas of cooperation with insurance associations, public bodies and companies which have already collaborated with students offering in-house practice.

The following speaker was Luis Álvarez Álvarez, vice-rector of Academic Regulation and European Space for Higher Education at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria University (ULPGC), who explained the main features of the University Master in Prevention, Health and Safety at the Workplace which is taught at ULPGC since 1997. After mentioning the structure of official teaching: degree, master and PhD, Álvarez explained the background, characteristics, goals, competence and selection criteria to be admitted in the course.

Margarita Ramos made a special mention of the decisive collaboration and the grant in training offered by ICASEL and the General Board of Labour of the Government of the Canary Islands which have made it possible to carry out two training initiatives through the University Plan on Awareness and Training in Risk Management in the Workplace. Finally, another positive aspect is being able to keep a high level of attended teaching as answer to the degree of multidisciplinary contents, with the aim to increase the culture of risk management in work sessions with students in the classroom.

On the background, he said that the I Master in Occupational Risks Management at the ULPGC was set up thanks to an agreement between the University and the Council of Employment and Social Affaire of the Government of the Canary Islands in 1997, with 900 accreditations. The goals of the course were to know the foundations and the judicial scope of occupational risk management; as well as the different occupational safety risks at workplaces and the most suitable techniques to correct them. The competence this master course offers are the ability to identify essential elements in a risk management plan and its implementation in a company apart from being able to differentiate different ways to organise risk management in a business. In short, the proposed master has the general goal of qualifying students to work as high level risk management experts in the risk management services all companies must have. Regarding access to the master course, Álvarez informed that all people with a university degree can do it, although the most appropriate profile are those who have done degrees which are directly related to the business activity. However, if there were more than 60 applications, 64

Need Juan Guasch: “It is important to have risk management experts trained for small businesses”

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

As for the future, Margarita Ramos thinks rationalising the configuration of university courses on risk management is necessary. “It is desirable to have a diversion of competences between the Ministry of Employment and the Ministry of Science and Innovation in order to provide these courses with a coverage that would allow them to be included in the structure of university degrees in an institutionalised way”. Now, she warns, turning this course into an official postgraduate course positions it in competence with other official degrees which are “continuity” or “specialised training” of degrees. Finally, the speaker put forward some questions about the future which as yet have found no answer: will this training be properly valued as a specialised postgraduate training in the work market? Will companies develop and manage their own risk management policies providing the suitable framework, infrastructure and sufficient means for University degrees in Risk Management at the Workplace? Will this specialised training be paid accordingly? Will a sufficiently acknowledged degree of training be established so that the worker can have a progressive career? 65

theme BLOCK TRAINING IN RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE WORKPLACE

Training in Europe Mario Grau Ríos

Coordinator of European Union Relations at the Institute of Safety and Hygiene in the Workplace (INSHT)

Moderator Salvador Álvarez Vega

Catalonia Director General of Labour

n order to create a proper culture of risk management in the workplace in the framework of the current adaptation to the European Space for Higher Education (ESHE), Mario Grau believes that work health should cover the whole of university teaching and that any degree or master course must not only have a discipline that provides the basic elements of risk management at the workplace but all subjects should be impregnated with this culture of risk management. Grau insists that occupational risk management and education in this matter needs to be included in all the educational systems and disciplines, apart from making teachers aware and training them, introducing transverse modules and continuous training, updating and specialising them. It is only thus that social awareness in occupational safety can be achieved. The INHST relations coordinator with the EU recalls that in November 2008 the Spanish Government approved the acknowledgment of professional qualifications

at all levels: from non formal to formal education, including universities; and that two professions were established through regulated degrees: expert in risk management (high level) and expert in occupational risk management, as it is called in the system of professional training. After mentioning the current situation regarding abilities and aptitudes of professionals with relation to Occupational Risks –among health and non health professionals- and taking into account the current adaptation to the ESHE, also known as Plan Bologna, Mario Grau offered as an example the Nordic countries model which encourage a generalist training for experts in occupational risk management.

Demand “I am in favour of implementing a higher generalist qualification in risk management. It is necessary to fuse all technical specialities together so that a labour doctor and an expert in prevention can understand each other”

Specifically, he upholds that experts in occupational risks must have a generalist training, the same as the work expert. “It is necessary to join all the expert specialities so that an expert in risk management and a work doctor can understand each other; it must be general because the limits between professions are blurred”. In conclusion, he put forward the following: the introduction of a generalist university degree in occupational risk management that would include the current specialities; the acknowledgement by Royal Decree of a master course with authority that would establish the requirements to access the course, the common part functions and finally, he upheld the safeguarding of the current certifications as well as the non regulated “super-specialisation”.

Grau is in favour of a generalist training for experts in occupational risk management

“The ideal situation would be –he summed up- for society to have a generalist expert in occupational risk management along with non regulated specialities. Generalist training allows diagnosing and directing a super-specialist, just like a work doctor does when they diagnose, for instance, an eye pathology and then forwards the patient to an ophthalmologist”.

Mario Grau, during his speech

Salvador Álvarez Vega, Catalonia Director General of Labour was the moderator

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

According to Mario Grau, the measures that must be taken to set up a true risk management culture through education are the following: Inclusion at all areas of the educational system, making teachers aware and training, inclusion in all disciplines, setting up transversal modules, continuous training, specialisation and updating and making society aware.

From left to right, Mario Grau and Salvador Álvarez

theme BLOCK RESEARCH AND INNOVATION IN RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE WORKPLACE

Innovation in research on machinery regarding occupational risk management

Michael Huelke

Director of the Subdivision of New Technologies of the Labour Safety Institute (Germany)

Moderator Juan Pedro Sánchez Rodríguez

Vice-Councillor for Industry of the Government of the Canary Islands

In his paper, Michael Huelke offered information on machine use and safety and technical innovation. To this end he based himself in that the cause of accidents can be technical or due to human error and showed the research done and the innovations designed to solve accidents for technical causes and for human errors when handling machinery. In the first place, he said “accidents must be looked into and then check the machines and establish the proper security measures”. Regarding work accidents due to machine use, according to research done in Austria between 2000 and 2001 on 544 incidents produced by machines. It was concluded that 32% of them were related to technical problems. Workers mistakes made up 68% and these took place where there were not enough instructions about the machines, that is, accidents are more related with organisation. Sometimes, the speaker underlined, workers do not take the necessary safety measures; “in fact, reports on accidents reveal that 6% of the operations are not authorised. There are also mistakes in machine usage and 2/3 of accidents are due to operational errors”. The conclusion to be drawn is that the nature of accidents is varied and estimations are not trustworthy. “One of the innovations we can actually introduce is to improve statistics on accidents”, Huelke suggested. The results in research on technical errors show that in many instances safety measures are not applied. For this reason, as shown by Michael Huelke with several videos, in order to improve safety a magnetic field in risky areas of the machines has been created and so when there is contact with, say, the worker’s hand, the machine stops.

Michael Huelke and moderator, Juan Pedro Sánchez

ichael Huelke is the head of research and new technologies at the German Institute for Labour Safety (BGIA). He works for the accident insurance of 70 million employees and 3.5 million companies and, specifically, to provide rehabilitation services, prevention and compensation or financial benefits. In 2008 BGIA activities were devoted in a 75% to researching occupational diseases and risks particular to a job and in a 25% to risk management at the workplace. 68

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

Sensors for the saws of machines have also been set up so that as soon as there is contact the whole system is stopped and the accident avoided. There are sensors capable of detecting even human skin. The research has also address unsuitable protection measures and it has been concluded that use manuals are not understandable sometimes. “Even then we must encourage workers to read the manuals”. Finally, Huelke mentioned that research has also centred in new technologies with microprocessors and software.

Michael Huelke, during his speech

Work reality Research has also approached the study of unsuitable protection measures and it has been noticed that manuals are sometimes not understandable

Regarding accidents due to human behaviour there are two causes: unsuitable use of machinery and its employment without due authorisation.

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theme BLOCK PSYCHO-SOCIOLOGY AND ERGONOMICS AS INDEPENDENT RISK PREVENTING DISCIPLINES

Psycho-sociology as risk preventing discipline

Advances Machines and production methods are constantly being developed so innovation in safety concepts and protection devices does not stop

“For this reason we must increase workers awareness regarding safety”, he concluded and added that his Institute, the BGIA, has carried out assessment by means of a poll on safety professionals and it was deduced that 37% of the protection measures are not used or are only used temporarily. Accidents due to these reasons make up a 25%. Given these causes, he said, it is important to avoid malpractice with machinery and encourage the use of safety measures. “We must focus on the protection of machinery and we use robots to the end”. Areas in factories can also be monitored in order to avoid accidents. Huelke showed it by a video in which a robotic arm stopped when a person passed by. In another video he showed how a tri-dimensional camera detected the contact of a person thus avoiding crashing against the worker. “These are technical innovations aimed at guaranteeing the protection of men who work with machines”.

Steven Sauter

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health of the United States (NIOSH)

Moderator Rafael Ruiz Calatrava

Secretary General of the General Council of Industrial Relations and Graduates in Work Science

teven Sauter is a psychologist and a member of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health of the United States (NIOSH), based in Cincinnati, where they have coordinated a research scheme on work organisation and stress. In the II Canary Islands Conference on the Prevention of Occupational Risks, Sauter focuses his paper on psycho-sociology as preventive discipline regarding occupational risks and for a start he showed the results of research analysing the effects on health at the workplace or the costs relating health at the workplace when it is carried out in adverse conditions.

“Sometimes, as an insurer, we have to ask ourselves, how close can men and machines be?” Michael Huelke said and then went on to explain erroneous use of machines: when workers use them with other ends and the mistakes made when working with them. “I insist it is important to make workers aware of the importance of using machines properly”. Nowadays, the BGIA, Huelke explained, is researching to improve the human-machine interaction. “This is our challenge for the future”, he said. To do it we must use simulations and the use of virtual reality is a need for the future. To conclude, Michael Huelke said that machine and production methods are constantly developing so that innovation in safety concepts and gadgets is never ending. On the other hand, thanks to the correct assessment to companies operational mistakes can be avoided and therefore, accidents. “One of the innovations that could be introduced is to improve accident statistics”

Finally, he pointed out it is worthwhile to invest time and money in research and innovate in occupational risk management.

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

Steven Sauter offered information that relates cancer with night work shifts

“Night shifts can cause cancer in workers due to constant exposure to artificial lighting and the increase of melatonin, a hormone which encourages the development of this serious illness”, he put as an example and confirmed that the Danish Government recently compensated women who had developed cancer due to work under artificial lighting.

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theme BLOCK PSYCHO-SOCIOLOGY AND ERGONOMICS AS INDEPENDENT RISK MANAGEMENT DISCIPLINES

CONTRIBUTON OF ERGONOMICS TO OCCUPATIONAL RISK MANAGEMENT

Regarding psycho-sociology, the speaker pointed out that the most frequent reasons for workers to leave their jobs is stress, in the first place, in fact one third of employees have a high level of anxiety, out of a poll carried out on 13,000 workers worldwide. Then by order of importance, salary, promotion, developing a career and the lack of leisure time. Stress is therefore a risk factor not only for workers’ health but for the company’s efficiency and productivity. What can we do? Steven Sauter asks. Many social security institutes invest in researching this psychological risk, in fact, there are studies which analyse the effects of this pathology but “when one thinks about stress at work one must focus on wellness or health encouraging programmes; in fact 54% of companies carry them out”. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health of the United States recommends an integral approach to fight stress so that the individual is stronger to face this limit situation. One of the measures to be adopted by companies is reducing working hours and avoiding excessive burdens. “When there is an individual and organisational change in the company, stress situations are more successfully avoided”, said Sauter, who underlined it is important to reach the root of the problem in order to avoid it becoming a depression and particularly because this implies reducing absenteeism and injuries and therefore, cost increase. “The solution involves focusing in researches which approach the problem not just individually but also from an organisational point of view”, the expert insisted. Sauter thinks that one of these organisational mistakes is that workers are told what they have to do but not how to do it”. “In times of crisis stress situations increase and this affects workers mental health which appears as a risk factor undermining the work system. The solution for employers is to approach the problem globally”. The representative of NIOSH, institute which researches stress and its psycho-social effects at work, underlined that “the biggest asset of a company is its healthy workforce and for this reason psychosocial risks must be constantly assessed.”

Rik Op De Beeck

Head of Research, PREVENT (Belgium)

Moderator María Narducci Steven Sauter

Inspector General of Work and Social Security of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay

Rafael Ruiz Calatrava

Risk factor “Stress is the most important reason for workers to leave their job. In order of importance it is followed by pay, promotion, career growth and lack of leisure time”

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

Rik Op De Beeck during his speech

he contribution of ergonomics to occupational risk management is the title of the paper read by Rik Op De Beeck, head of research at PREVENT, in Belgium. As he explained he works as ergonomics adviser and provides assessment on this matter to many companies. To analyse the importance of ergonomics in risk management, he asked himself what ergonomics is. He explained that according to Greek etymology, ergon (work) and nomos (law, science), means fitting people in their tasks or, in other words, generating better designs in their tasks through studying their possibilities.

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rise to diminishing quality of life and work. “There are human errors which produce accidents”, he said and mentioned the case of a nurse who did not read the label properly and mixed up two types of very similar insulin causing the death of a patient. “Many accidents are due to inadequate relations between workers and machinery”.

“In the first place we must know who we are as human beings. This is basic for ergonomics”, he stated, at the time he pointed out that this approach is also important for the performance or productivity of a company. “In fact, ergonomics can be physical, organisational, etc”. The expert said this science has always been present –from ancient times-, hunting or war arms have always been adapted for human use. “Leonardo da Vinci was a great ergonomics expert”, he pointed out. In short, ergonomics looks for solutions for people and their work tools, it aims at equipments being interdisciplinary and good for everyone. “We must invest in ergonomics because muscle-skeleton problems and mental stress are the most frequent occupational illnesses”. Rik Op De Beeck offered data from a work poll revealing that 25% of workers have back complaints, 23% complain about muscle pains and 22% experience fatigue and 22%, stress.

“Why do we react inadequately in certain situations? Because we do not take the possibilities of human brain into account”, claimed the expert adding that “when the human computer is tired, it does not work”. As example he mentioned many road accidents which are due to driving for too many hours. “Human errors can lead to extreme accidents”.

“Ergonomics looks for solutions for people and their work tools”

The source of these complaints is many-folded (habits, leisure, etc.). The most common risk agents are physical, bad postures and excess loads; psychosocial, influenced by repetition, the time spent doing the same tasks, etc; and environmental agents like cold, vibrations and noise.

Goal “We must learn to look for the end of the working day and the start of leisure time. If we want to do something positive we must take on the culture of ergonomics because it is a good investment for human beings”

Back complaints are mostly suffered by workers in agriculture, fishing and building. Improving work conditions in these activities has positive results in quality of life and increases workers satisfaction, favouring business productivity. Costs associated to these pathologies can be both direct and indirect. The latter, and more frequent one, translates in looking for new staff and losing motivated staff which generates a negative work atmosphere. All these are reasons to invest in ergonomics. There are also legal liabilities for failure to comply regarding this issue. For all of this, Rik Op De Beeck said, it is important to assess risks when using machinery, postures at work, social contact (avoid excess isolation) and the time before a computer. Organising work is also important in ergonomics which aims at caring work shifts, make teamwork more efficient and guarantee training. If these issues are not protected, general and local tiredness turns up apart from mental fatigue. Ergonomics develops different methods to assess tiredness or work load as these give

The speaker said that in the current economic crisis companies cut down staff and the remaining workers take on more work, so few people are doing more tasks. “Ergonomics helps to reduce human errors and contributes to the general performance of a company as it reduces absenteeism”. If human errors are cut down, there are less accidents and more quality is generated. Ergonomics generates designs for an ever increasing group of people. At present work organisation has changed in search of more productivity: doing more with less people. And who does the job? Subcontracting and temporary workers are increasingly being resorted to. These people do not feel part of the company and this is an important risk. This generates cuts in maintenance and training and they run the same risks as at the time when there was no crisis. Jobs which are not very well regarded are exported to other countries. Other challenges or changes taking place is the increasing immigrant population, with the cultural variety this entails and the new emerging technologies which produce an increase in teleworking, a type of work we must be careful about because it introduces work life in private life. “Technology has risks too”, Rik Op De Beeck confirmed.

Moderator, María Narducci

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

This means ergonomics is a culture of ethical nature. And in this regards he said that for workers well being “we must look for the end of working days and the beginning of leisure days. If we want to do something positive, we must take on the culture of ergonomics because it is a positive investment for human beings”.

theme BLOCK JUDICIAL ASPECTS IN OCCUPATIONAL RISK MANAGEMENT

Criminal liability of experts and coordinators in the application of the regulations on occupational risk management Ernesto Vieira Morante

Delegate Prosecutor of the Occupational Accidents Section of Las Palmas

José Luis Sánchez-Jauregui

Delegate Prosecutor of the Occupational Accidents Section of Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Moderator Humberto Guadalupe Hernández

President of the Labour Court of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Canaries

possible sentences after being sued for a possible risk management offence or work accident. The first to talk was José Luis Sánchez Jáuregui, who started by saying there is criminal liability included in the Criminal Code which criminalises the most serious behaviour: those which attempt against judicial good, which is workers’ health. Employers are always the maximum responsible party: they must comply with the regulations regarding risk management. They may be exonerated when they delegate in others but some requirements must always be taken into account, that is, that person they are delegating on must know the regulations on risk management and must have the power to stop works if necessary. Judicial liability may fall on all those who have any type of responsibility. For instance, the developer, the builder and the subcontractor are all responsible. The architect or head of works are also liable if the safety project does not comply with their requirements. In the case of engineers, we must point out it is his obligation to visit the building site and record it in the visits book accordingly. Architects and engineers must be on the building site because they know everything regarding safety. But the safety coordinator is not responsible if workers do not comply with safety rules or subject themselves to risky situations. In short, all professionals are liable and must comply with the rules. This is not “a witch hunt”, the Prosecution only wants to delimit liabilities, the Tenerife prosecutor underlined.

Members of the round table

elegate prosecutors on work accidents of both Canaries provinces: José Luis Sánchez Jáuregui, for Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and Ernesto Vieira, for Las Palmas, explained the offences and professional categories which may be subject to trial or have criminal liability in applying the Law of Risk Management in the Workplace and how the proceedings develop and the

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

In his speech, Ernesto Vieira, delegate prosecutor on work accidents of Las Palmas analysed the action of judges and prosecutors in proceedings related to occupational risk and accident offences, talking about the start of criminal actions, the study of the main aspects of Criminal instruction, the trial and the sentence.

Moderator, Humberto Guadalupe

Criminal Code José Luis Sánchez underlined that the Prosecution only wants to delimit habilities

He also referred to sentences passed in the province of Las Palmas in the past two years summarising the facts, the offences being condemned, the penalties applied and the professional categories affected.

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Judicial Proceedings Many complaints do not go through the judicial proceedings despite society believing the contrary

Judicial responsibility Ernesto Vieira: “Employers take on more penalties because they are guarantors of workers’ safety”

Ernesto Vieira Morante, prosecutor of Las Palmas

José Luis Sánchez-Jauregui, prosecutor of the Tenerife province

As for organisation, action and perspectives of the Prosecution Office regarding these offences, he laid out the vertical structure of the Ministry of Prosecution, the way the Sections work, the main action criteria, the future of the prosecutor and the proposals of legislative reforms.

Ernesto Viera explained that when the criminal instruction begins, statements by all the parties involved are taken and once the instruction ends, the trial begins or the report is filed or the action is dismissed, “which is when the issue comes to a end”. Here Viera underlines that many reports do not go through the whole judicial process, despite there being the general belief they do. “When the trial is agreed it is important to have evidence of the accusation, at all time safeguarding the presumption of innocence; in fact when prosecutors accuse they do so because they are convinced”, he explains and underlines that some evidence is more important than other to reach this conclusion.

Specifically, Ernesto Vieira pointed out that regarding occupational accidents and criminal liability it is necessary to clarify concepts and define the actions of the courts when a work accident occurs because not all behaviours have criminal responsibility. This is why he stressed offences being tried must be known as well as the professional categories which can be subject of trial. Regarding the initiation of a trial once an accident is reported, Las Palmas prosecutor pointed out that it can be started by a judicial police report or by a work inspector, by a member of the victim’s family or by the victim themselves. “When the prosecutor hears of the report, the investigation is started, that is, they get information and images in order to establish whether the report is an offence in which case the prosecutor sends the report to the courts”.

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

Current Situation “I have not noticed an increase in accidents due to the crisis but we must watch out”

Regarding which are the professional categories more affected by penalties he, like his Tenerife counterpart, said that employers take on more penalties because they indeed are guarantors of workers’ safety; however, and despite the general belief of the opposite idea, Vieira assured that “there have not been that many penalties to architects or technical architects”. Asked whether the crisis could be the cause of an increase in work accidents he confirmed: “I have not detected more accidents due to the crisis but we must be watchful”.

theme BLOCK RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE WORKPLACE AT INTERNATIONAL LEVEL

Occupational Risk Management Strategies in the European Framework

Concepción Pascual Lizana

Director of the National Institute of Safety and Hygiene in the Workplace

Francisco Jesús Álvarez Hidalgo

Main Administrator of the Unit for Safety, Health and Hygiene in the Workplace of the European Commission

Pedro Tomás Pino Pérez

Director General of Labour of the Government of the Canary Islands

Moderator Paula Liñán Ruiz

Director General of Occupational Safety in the Balearic Islands

he strategies in risk management at the workplace in the European framework were the central issue dealt with at the institutional round table where three people took part representing the Ministry of Employment, the European Commission and the Government of the Canary Islands.

Lines of action Francisco Álvarez called for the development of national strategies to encourage attitude changes in workers and employers

Concepción Pascual Lizana, director of the National Institute for Safety and Health in the Workplace was the first to talk and developed the Spanish Strategy on Safety and Health in the Workplace (2007-2012). Regarding the current situation of occupational accidents in Spain, the causes of fatal accidents in 2008 have been due to non traumatic pathologies (35%), road accidents (18,2%), crashes against immobile objects (14,3%), getting trapped and amputations (12,9%). Regarding occupational diseases in Spain, Lizana showed a chart drawn up at the Ministry of Employment for 2008, where 18,700 diseases were counted, of which 370 are found in the agriculture sector; the industrial sector registered 9,314; construction, 2,158; and services 6,858. Out of these diseases, a total of 11,926 led to sickness leaves. In view of this information, the director of INSHT wondered what happens with small and medium size companies as in Spain most companies are of this type.

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

In this context the Spanish Strategy for Safety and Health in the Workplace (2007-2012) appears as an instrument to establish the general framework of the policies on risk management at the workplace. The agreement has been reached with the social agents: trade unions and employers associations; and public administrations: government and autonomous communities. The general goals of the Strategy are to cut down occupational accidents and bring the country closer to the average values of the European Union, apart from making constant improvements in the levels of safety and health in the workplace. To this end, the INHST has a plan of action which includes ninety measures where responsibilities are established and a calendar of action is set up. The current action plan, from October 2008 to June 2010, foresees an improvement in fulfilling the regulations by small and mediumsized companies and selfemployed people by implementing an assessment system for microcompanies, a web system of selfdiagnosis and self-evaluation. A guide explaining the application of these regulations in small companies will also be prepared. Similarly, in order to favour complying with the regulations, measures to improve selfemployed workers conditions will be established as well as the Renew Plan of working equipment so that they take care of risk management with their own resources. Special programmes will be developed, like the Prevea Scheme, which aims at encouraging safety and health in small companies.

The round table had an institutional character

Accidents in figures The causes of fatal accidents in 2008 have been due to non traumatic pathologies (35%), road accidents (18.2%), crashes against immobile objects (14.3%), getting trapped and amputations (12.9%)

The second line of action has to do with improving the efficiency and quality of the risk management system. Quality and efficiency criteria demanded from risk management services will also be established as well as training and monitoring entities. The next plan of action is the development of a prevention culture. With this aim the campaign Prevention, our best enterprise, was started in November 2008. In the fourth place, in order to

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Concepción Pascual, of INSHT

perfect information systems on occupational accidents, the State Observatory on Work Conditions was started in July 2008. The following line of action consists of encouraging training in risk management through a work group on education and training and the drawing up of a training plan. The last line of action is the reinforcement of institutions devoted to risk management.

To conclude, Francisco Jesús Álvarez stated that, both for economic and human reasons, safety and health at the workplace deserve a special place in the community political agenda. The central commitment of Lisbon Strategy to increase productivity for greater competitiveness demands that the interested parties make bigger efforts to improve results on the issue at the European Union.

The second speaker in this round table was Francisco Jesús Álvarez Hidalgo, main administrator of the Unit for Safety, Health and Hygiene in the Workplace of the European Commission. In his speech he focused on the Community Strategy on Safety and Health in the Workplace (2007-2012).

The third and last speaker was Pedro Tomás Pino Pérez, director general of Labour of the Government of the Canary Islands, who talked about the goals and action lines of the objectives and policies for Risk Management in the Workplace proposed for the next years, going back to the start of this initiative at the Canaries Government with the establishment of the Canaries Institute of Occupational Safety (Icasel) in 1998, a body competent in matters of occupational risk management within the labour administration.

He started by mentioning the previous European Strategy (20022006), whose goals were well-being at the workplace, the culture of prevention and the cooperation of all agents involved. The goals of the current Strategy are cutting down occupational accidents by 25%. In order to achieve this goal, he stated that the correct application of the legislation must be guaranteed; support small and medium-sized companies; adapt the judicial framework to the development of the work world and make it simpler. In the same line, Álvarez said it was necessary to encourage the development of national Strategies, favour changes in workers’ behaviour and encourage employers to adopt approaches which favour health. “Methods to identify and evaluate new risks must be prepared apart from improving the follow up of the progress made and promote health and safety at an international level”. In order to reinforce the application of community legislation, the expert pointed out national strategies must apply instruments which can guarantee a high level of compliance with the legislation, especially in small and medium size businesses apart from in high risk sectors through spreading good practice at a local level. On its part, the European Commission will simplify the ruling judicial framework overseeing the adaptation of the regulating framework to technical progress and the evolution of the labour world, abiding by the principles of a coherent, simple and efficient legislation and the reduction of administrative loads to companies. To encourage the development and put into practice the national strategies, the preventing efficiency of health watch will be incremented; we shall act in favour of rehabilitation and reintegration of workers; we shall face social and demographic changes and coherence in politics will be reinforced.

Francisco Jesús Álvarez, of the European Commission

On the other hand, changes in behaviour can take place, according to the speaker, by including work safety and health in school syllabuses and the setting up of healthier and safer workplaces as well as awareness in companies. Facing new important risks is a matter of promoting mental health in the workplace.

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

Pedro Tomás Pino, of the Government of the Canary Islands

The IV Agreements on Social Consensus (2001-2004) were the following great step in this issue as they included the First Plan for the Reduction of Occupational Accidents in the Canaries. Between 2005 and 2008 these agreements on social consensus were renewed and the Second Plan for the Reduction of Occupational Accidents was approved with the following goals: bring about the improvement of work conditions in the Canaries, implant and reinforce a prevention culture in Background the Islands, enlarge the participation Pedro Tomás Pino talked and commitment of co-responsibility, about the proposals in risk establish incentives for occupational prevention for the coming risk management, reinforcing the years in the Canaries mechanisms of coordination among the public administrations and develop the application ruling in the Canaries. At present and as a result of negotiating agreements of the social consensus in the Canaries, we are working on the prevention of occupational risks policies (2009-2013), about to be approved, the denomination of Canaries Strategy for Occupational Risks Prevention whose operational goals are risk management in companies and developing public politics. Regarding risk management in companies, the aim is to propitiate the efficient complying with the regulations as well as integrating it in the management of the business; stimulating the improvement of the quality and efficiency of prevention systems and highlight the importance of social interlocutors in the improvement of safety and health at the workplace. Regarding the development of public policies, the Director General of Labour stated the need to consolidate the culture of prevention in the Canaries society, to perfect the information and research systems related to safety and health in the workplace and to encourage training in occupational risk management and try to improve institutional participation and the coordination of public administrations in occupational risk management policies.

theme BLOCK RISK MANAGEMENT AT INTERNATIONAL LEVEL

The Experience of Occupational Risk Management at International Level Maureen Shaw

President of the Industrial Accident Prevention Association (IAPA)

Valentina Forastieri

Head of the Health Training and Promotion Unit of the Safe Work Scheme of the International Labour Organisation (ILO)

Héctor Óscar Verón

Advisor to the Ministry of Work in Occupational Risks in Argentina

From the point of view of business, Maureen Shaw said that work absenteeism in her country costs Canadian companies 16 billion dollars a year. Similarly, research done in the United States reveals that injuries suffered at the workplace mean 150 billion dollar in direct or indirect costs. “Guaranteeing good health and the culture of safety –Shaw concluded- is not only a matter of economic saving but also of productivity”. Basing herself on this idea, she insisted on the advantages of a healthy workplace: higher productivity and reliability, better quality, advance in employees’ moral commitment, a stronger staff with initiative, keeping and hiring personnel more easily, plus wide coordination and organisation.

Carlos Javier Santos García

It all means the company improves its image and increases the trust of the public. To support her arguments, Maureen Shaw put as an example the experience of a Canadian company: Blue Bird Coach.

Birame Faye

Facing the international financial crisis, Shaw said that investing in a healthy workplace offers advantages because it improves the image of the company, protects the most vulnerable workers, keeps spirits high and is an investment. When a safety and health culture is adopted at work we go from greater performance to excellence. And concluded: “In organisations, power and energy are generated through relationships and the ability to create those relationships is more important than tasks, duties, roles and positions”.

Executive Director of the International Social Security Association

Head of Risk Management of Senegal Social Security

Moderator Hans-Horst Konkolewsky

Secretary General of the International Social Security Association (ISSA)

isk management in the workplace at international level is the title of the round table in which five speakers from three continents took part offering their experience on health and safety at work. The first speaker was Maureen Shaw, president of the Industrial Accidents Prevention Association (IA PA), with headquarters in Canada. Shaw explained the IA PA’s own philosophy: “A world where risks are controlled because we all believe that suffering and loss are morally, socially and economically unacceptable”. Human toll in work accidents in Canada amount to one million injured and one thousand deaths a year; while in the European Union there are 142,000 deaths a year due to work diseases and 9,000 deaths due to accidents at the workplace. A safe workplace must have an organisational culture with leadership and values like respect and understanding, balanced volume of work and mutual enrichment. In the second place, it must offer health sources like programmes to be fit and the chance to choose healthy food; and in the third place, it must have ergonomics criteria, hygiene and safe machinery. After explaining what a safe workplace is, Maureen Shaw referred to the European Agency for Safety and Health in the Workplace, which offers an integral approach to work safety and health, apart from including wider goals within corporate social liability. In the second place, she mentioned the Spanish Strategy for Health and Safety in the Workplace which pays special attention to psychosocial risks apart from developing a culture of prevention in Spanish society. Finally regarding the European Union she said that it expects to cut work accidents by 25% by 2012 and have an integral approach to safety and health. 84

Round table on risk management at international level

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

In the second place, and on behalf of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Valentina Forastieri talked about the world programme of this body on safety and health at the workplace and environment as well as its world strategy. She offered information on the world estimates on work injuries and illnesses, stating that every 15 minutes a worker dies in the world due to a work accident or disease. The most frequent occupational Figures diseases are muscle-skeletal complaints in a 40% and Maureen Shaw: heart conditions in a 16%. “World estimates for accidents “Work absenteeism at the workplace have not changed significantly in the past ten years; however, we must improve data obtaining in Canada costs in order to have more suitable parameters”. companies 16 billion dollars a year” Regarding the current economic crisis and its social impact, the representative of the ILO underlined that one thousand million people in the world live in extreme poverty and that losses in the world GDP due to occupational accidents and diseases is 4%, a situations that will get worse with the crisis skating that workers with precarious jobs will be the most affected: the youngest, the oldest and migrating workers. The impact of the demands of globalisation in employment are cost cutting through making working relations and employment conditions more precarious, giving rise to new ways of hiring personnel: temporary work, part-time, precarious contracts, subcontracting, etc.

Lines of action Valentina Forastieri explained the ILO’s world programme on safety and health in her speech

PAPERS/ ROUND TABLES Maureen Shaw

Valentina Forastieri

This new situation will bring about changes in the characteristics of employment, with a larger amount of migrant workers (between 1960 and 2005 the world migrant population has doubled, reaching 191 million), which are found especially in preReport carious jobs. In addition, there is an Carlos Javier Santos: “17.5 million children under increase in submerged economy in 14 work in Latin America. 22,000 die every year” developing countries. On the other

hand, the economic crisis and its social impact imply a cut in production and employment, the closing down of factories, dismissals, part-time and outsourcing. As a result the measures on safety and health are reduced. “We must not forget that the crisis is not an excuse to stop investing in prevention, especially if we want a productive society”. Forastieri mentioned a research by the EU in 2002 which showed that more than 50% of absenteeism was due to stress and it cost 30 billion euros. The ILO representative insisted that “we must obtain resources to avoid dismissals, and find alternative ways to cut costs which do not involve dismissals but workers can be reoriented in their posts or duties. In these restructuring processes the mental health of workers must be protected too”. Valentina Forastieri showed the ILO world strategy in safety and health at the workplace in the face of globalisation and mentioned the politics and agreements reached by this organisations like World Strategy on Safety and Health at the Workplace (2003), the new ILO Strategy for the modernisation and strengthening of Work (2006), the setting up of a World Safety and Health at the Workplace Day, and the mechanisms, alliances and international collaboration programmes. Finally, she mentioned the challenges the ILO has regarding work safety and health which included updating the legislation, improving its compliance, consolidating national systems on safety and health at the workplace, improving the systems of recording accidents, guaranteeing a political commitment and improving social dialogue.

Héctor Óscar Verón, adviser of the Minister of Labour and Work Risks in Argentina, set forth his vision on risk management at the workplace in his country, showing the evolution it has undergone. The main agents taking part in risk preventing in Argentina are employers, employees, insurers of risks at the workplace (called ART), provincial states and the nation through the Superintendence of Risks at the Workplace. Employers have the obligation to apply safety and health measures at the workplace through an affiliation contract with ART, which are operational entities in which the State delegates the administrative management of risks at the workplace. Provincial states act a work police in their jurisdictions. Independent from the obligations of each sector, there are actions developed by the System of Risks in the Workplace (SRT) in Argentina which involve them all, like the programmes on prevention, training, promotion and awareness. Regarding accident indicators, they are very difficult to obtain in Argentina because there is a lot of unrecorded work; most fatal accidents occur in small and mediumsized businesses; for this reason the speaker underlined the need to be careful with the current crisis situation because it worsens work conditions.

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

Héctor Óscar Verón

Carlos Javier Santos

Birame Faye

Héctor Verón unfolded the evolution of occupational accidents between 2002 and 2006, there being 680 deaths in 2002 and 995 in 2006, although the increase is cases reported (from 344,045 to 635,874) has to be taken into account, a fact that runs parallel to the increase in the number of workers with social coverage. He showed the programmes carried out in Argentina in risk management which were addressed to manufacturing small and medium-sized companies, and the programme on re-education on fatal accidents (2005-2007). It is worth mentioning the agreements with 40 trade unions which led to the training in risk management of 60,000 workers. On the other hand, in the actions on promotion and awareness occupational health professionals were encouraged to adhere to the International Ethic Code and a Good Practice Code was drawn up. In addition, information material was published and the Argentina Safety and Health at the Workplace Week was established. The fourth speaker at this round table was Carlos Javier Santos, Executive Director of the International Social Security Association (ISSA ), a specialist body which works for the social protection in all areas, including risk management, where ISSA has stable work systems in different matters. The ISSA representative pointed out that the diagnosis of the Latin American region shows many different realities but also common features, like informal economy or underground employment, which means repairing damages is impossible. Another important phenomenon is child work: 17.5 million children (under 14) are working and 22,000 die yearly. 52% of women work in underground economy, like in assembling plants, where over 85% of workers are women. On the other hand, more than 20 million workers live outside their country and 1.3 million are subjected to forced work. Finally, indigenism implies traditions which do not pay attention to prevention. Regarding data on occupational accidents, 12% of workers are covered against occupational risks as opposed to 80% who have no coverage in occupational health. In short, accidents take up 10% of the GDP of the Latin American region. With the aim to encourage safety and health policies, the ISSA drew up the Declaration of Santiago, presented and approved at the II Latin American Conference on Risk Management at the Workplace (Prevencia 2009), held from 1 to 3 April 2009 in Santiago de Chile. This Declaration shows its support to the Latin American Strategy on Safety and Health at the Workplace (2010-2013). The ISSA representative warned that in the current crisis companies tend to reduce costs related to quality and prevention in search of optimisation but this really worsens productivity and increases underground economy. For all this he explained the said Strategy wants to go forward Business network in improving work conditions Héctor Verón said that most fatal accidents in in Latin America fighting social Argentina occur in small and medium size companies dumping, giving more weight to

theme BLOCKÇ RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE WORKPLACE AT INTERNATIONAL LEVEL

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European Campaign in Occupational Risk Management

social agents, generating efficient improvements in risk management culture and in the occupational information, recording and diseases system. Finally, the specific goals of the Strategy include actions and a follow up and evaluation through indicators. States are also differentiated depending on how developed their preventing culture is, starting by a situational diagnosis through polls on work conditions. The last speaker at this round table was Birame Faye, director of Occupational Risk Management of Senegal Social Security and lecturer on this subject at Dakar University. He started by screening several videos where he showed, as an example, the precarious work safety and health conditions in Africa. The organisation to promote risk management at the workplace in Sub-Saharan French-speaking Africa (IARP) has become an essential structure in the promotion of safety and health fro workers. Its members are asked to create a true culture of prevention in order to achieve a reinforcement of social protection at the workplace, development of quality of life at work and general prosperity.

Jochen Müller

Campaign director of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work

Moderator Ramón Ceballos Sancho

Director General of Labour of Generalitat Valenciana

IAR P was set up in 1992 and in 1994 the first symposium was held where, among other things, an African Day on Risk Management at the Workplace was established and in 1997 an observatory on occupational diseases was launched. This Mali-based organisation includes fourteen western and central African countries: Benin, Burkina Fasso, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Congo Democratic Republic, Central African Republic, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Chad and Togo. The goal of IAR P is to encourage the health structures needed at work and favour research to prevent risks at the workplace. “We want to implement successfully risk management policies in Sub-Saharan Africa”, Birame Faye stated and confirm that IAR P can currently collaborate with all the international institutions and organisations related with safety and health at the workplace as well as with those carrying out research. “At first it was difficult to convince bodies to support our organisation”, Faye revealed, who challenged “every country to achieve their workers work in healthy conditions because if a worker is lost, it is the country that loses”. The organisational structure of IAR P is made up of a rotating presidency, a general secretary, a general assembly acting as a consultant commission, which met every three year, evaluates the actions carried out by the Secretary General and elects president. It also has specialist bodies and permanent secretaries. The promotion actions developed by IAR P include the mentioned African Prevention Day every 30 April; apart from a project to encourage film directors to integrate risk management at the workplace in their productions. Educational activities include training centres for risk management supervisors (Senegal and Ivory Coast) or those for occupational safety and health committees in Benin. A centre for risk management in mining has also been set up in Niger, a country where plans to train workers regarding the effects radiations of uranium, a metal that is plentiful in this country. IAR P is funded thanks to members’ fees, grants from national and international organisations, donations and legacies.

Work facts Birame Faye showed the precarious safety working conditions in the building sector in Africa

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

he European Campaign on Risk Management in the Workplace is the title of the paper read by Jochen Müller, campaign director of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, an institution which was set up in 1996 with headquarters in the Spanish city of Bilbao, and whose goal is for employers and employees to become aware of occupational accidents and the way to deal with them; this is why the Agency cooperates with the organisations devoted to this end in each member state.

Müller gave accident figures in EU

According to the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work every three and a half minutes a person dies in the European Community for reasons related to work. Of this number, 159,500 cases are due to illness caused by work in the European Union and 5,720 are due to accidents at work. Also, 74,000 deaths are due to the employment of dangerous substances at work like asbestos. In the information handled by the Agency on fatal accidents, we should mention Spain is in second position after Italy in the number of recorded fatal accidents at work, according to statistics from 2003. Specifically, out of a 17,295,000 workers, 722 accidents were recorded that year. Whereas in Italy, with 22,133,000 workers suffered 916 fatal accidents during the same period. Other information offered by the speaker is that every 4.5 seconds a worker in the European Union suffers an accident which forces them to stay at home for at least three working days, so that the total amount of work accidents leading to three or more days off work amount to seven million a year.

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THEME BLOCK OCCUPATIONAL RISK MANAGEMENT AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Prevention and the environment: business experience

This implies a great cost for workers and their families apart from the expense it generates to companies in the way of illness leaves, insurance costs, productivity, motivation, competitiveness, etc. To this we must add the load these leaves entail to the social health system. In his speech, after a general introduction of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, the speaker highlighted the importance of occupational safety and health in Europe, outlining the general situation regarding this issue in the European Union. Statistics and examples help to show we must do more to improve the situation. For this reason, in Jochen Müller’s opinion, risk evaluation is one of the main pillars in the structure of the European Union and other directives on safety and health in the workplace. “Investing in the increase of awareness and communication sources is a sure value”, he underlined.

José María de Bona Numancia

President of the Spanish Association of Occupational Risk Management Services (AESPLA) Müller gave a general view of the European campaign about work safety

Pablo Yáñez Rodríguez

Risk Management Director of Acciona Infraestructuras

Moderator Javier Vallejo Santamaría

Madrid Director General of Labour

Jochen Müller also stated that if the risk evaluation process is not done properly or is not done at all, the suitable prevention measures will most likely have no effect at all. Therefore, he added “health and safety at work in the European Union has thought out a simple and clear proposal in five steps to evaluate risks: identifying hazards and people in danger, evaluation and assessment of risks, decisions on prevention actions, start actions and overseeing and reviewing the plans carried out”. In his speech he offered an overview about the general European campaign on risks at work positions and evaluation of risks: strategic campaigns, messages, audiences, actions carried out in the first year (2008) and actions carried out or currently being developed in the second campaign in 2009. Some of the actions included in these campaigns are the European Week for Safety and Health at the Workplace which every year is held round a specific theme. For example in 2008 the goal was to cut down accidents and diseases at the workplace. Along this action there are hundreds of events and campaign activities throughout Europe. Finally, Jochen Müller offered an advance of the next campaign on safety and health in the workplace to be carried out by the European Union between 2010 and 2011 offering an outline of the activities planned by the European Agency.

osé María de Bona, president of the Spanish Association of Occupational Risk Management (AESPLA) and deputy manager at Iberia Risk Management Department (L.A.E), started his speech on risk management and the environment stating that both terms should not be related: “Risk management in the workplace understood as a discipline pursues safeguarding workers health in a company and this has nothing to do with the environment. A different matter is that we may find, after a search, links between them in the same way we find them in the area of work relations, collective agreements, business management, etc.” José María de Bona thinks that “they have used arguments which present this link to justify organisational structures in businesses or to publish articles or even books of doubtful usefulness, this said with due respect for the authors, but at all times from a theoretical viewpoint or from great concepts which, due to their greatness can include anything and show a relationship”.

Ramón Ceballos, moderator

Labour Facts Every three and a half minutes a person dies in the European Community for reasons related to work

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

The speakers dealt with the relation between the environment and prevention

To justify these statements, the speaker put forward the following: what matters?: workers’ health. What is a worker?: a person. Therefore when we talk about preventing damage to health we should first think in terms of integral health. Well, no: work medicine is set up as a differentiated medicine; work healthcare just the same; and the so called common medicine must be treated independently from the other two. In his opinion, interrelations are dealt with through a complex network on which, to make

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Denunciation “José María de Bona said that importing products from countries with worse social conditions means importing the same unemployment”

matters worse, hover sanctions for malpractice whose origin is, in many cases, the practice of that integral medicine mentioned above.

energy, water and services actively contributing to the well being of society, sustainable development and generating value for our groups of interest. Probably when we talk about corporate liability or sustainable development we are talking about risk management at the workplace”.

De Bona pointed out health depended on two factors, apart from genetics, the risks in and out of work but the incidence of the environment and the chances of solving them are so far removed from the expert in risk management that his search for a relation distracts him from a work that is far from finished. .

At Acciona, he said, incorporating this concept, “has forced us to have an unavoidable commitment of including it in our analyses, in our strategies and goals of continuous improvement, whether directly or indirectly, for in the long run, growing in a sustainable way, caring for our surroundings, the environment and the people who live in it, increasing their quality of life.”

“We can only think of two possible relations between the environment and risk management: that the environmental conditions of the workplace can be influenced by outside pollutants outside the employers’ reach or that the expert in risk management when it comes to protecting the worker put forward measures which are efficient in his/her environment but have deteriorating effects outside”. Risk management must focus, he said, on the immediate protection of workers, and the environment, on that industrial processes and the improvement in life conditions do not go against the sustainable maintenance of nature. Experts in risk management can analyse conditions in streets and roads to advice employers and workers on the best way to organise work and travel in order to minimize risks but cannot look for solutions to build a motorway.

José María de Bona, of AESPLA

Policies on safety and health systems are part of the values and strategies of the company as a whole and included in this business experience is the setting up of an Institute of Prevention and Occupational Health at Acciona Corporate University and the launching of the Training 2008-2011. Another goal of the company is to go into voluntary auditing in all the companies as a means to improve and reduce indexes. “We have also set up new physical channels as a complement to the existing intranet channels”, he added.

Having said that, José María de Bona set forth what can we say when we talk about risk management at the workplace and the environment? A company that is concerned about workers health can hardly be unconcerned about the environment. In the second place, we must not forget that if a company must modify its production processes to guarantee the protection of workers, it must do so by modifying its facilities which implies obtaining permits from the relevant authorities which in turn would only be granted if the regulations are complied with, including environmental ones. In the third place, we may consider a thorny issue which is compatibility between regulations: risk management’s and the environment’s. Every new regulation on risk management or the environment implies a cost to businesses, the same as any social improvement. “Years ago it was said that devaluating currency was a means to export unemployment. Nowadays, importing products and services from countries with worse social conditions, worse working conditions, worse environmental protection means importing the same unemployment”. The second and last speaker, Pablo Yáñez, director of Risk management at Acciona Infraestructuras, on risk management and environment in businesses said that: “Our mission is to be leaders in creating, promoting and managing infrastructure,

Regarding the point of view of risk management, within sustainability, Acciona’s point of view should be taken as an initiative oriented to satisfy organisational needs. “Risk management and the environment are fundamental values in the mission and dimensions which make up Acciona”, Yañez stressed.

Other business strategies include the development of information and communication technologies to improve managing systems in preventing risks and the accreditation in OSHAS 18001, of the main companies and association of risk management services of Acciona. Regarding the incentive policies, he said it is done through practices like awards for risk management given yearly, which “still shows the commitment and encouragement we have in achieving the desired goals”. Pablo Yáñez, of ACCIONA

Business example Pablo Yañez: “Acciona is working on an ambitious project on environmental efficiency”

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

Finally, regarding the commitment to sustainability Acciona is working on an ambitious project on environmental efficiency with the aim to improve energy efficiency. “Our company has been acknowledged at the Economic Forum in Davos as one of the best in the world regarding sustainability and corporate responsibility. Only 15% of the best valued go on to be part of the Year Book on Sustainability. “We are –he concluded- among the one hundred multinational companies which have shown leadership against climate change”.

THEME BLOCK RISK MANAGEMENT AND THE ENVIRONMENT

occupational risk AND ITS INFLUENCE ON THE ENVIRONMENT Juan Jesús Arteaga Lorenzo

Secretary General of trade union Comisiones Obreras Canarias

María del Mar Fernández Lorente

Coordinator of the Department of Environment of trade union UGT Aragón

Moderator Amalio Sánchez Grande

Cantabria Director General of Safety and Hygiene

isk management in the workplace and its influence on the environment was the topic dealt with at this round table made up of members of the main Spanish trade unions: Juan Jesús Arteaga, secretary general of Comisiones Obreras Canarias, and María del Mar Fernández, coordinator of the Department of the Environment of UGT Aragón. Juan Jesús Arteaga approached the issue in the context of the current economic and environmental crisis as well as the relation between employment and the environment. He pointed out that the economic crisis is confirmed in the figure of unemployed

people: in February 2009 there were 3,481,859 unemployed registered in our country and 227,706 in the Canary Islands. This implies the economic and social cohesion has deteriorated and job losses increased as well as the work load. The environmental crisis is confirmed by the global energetic conflict: “the time of expensive energy” and influence on the economy. It is also noticeable in the climate change and the uncertainty about the consequences this phenomenon might have in our society. The environmental crisis is also made evident by the fact that there is an increasing competence for diminishing natural resources (fish, “water crisis”, fertile soil, etc.).

Juan Jesús Arteaga

In this situation, Juan Jesús Arteaga stated that employment is related to the environment in as much as “there is no healthy work in an environment that is constantly deteriorating” “Our socioeconomic model has generated employment that clashes with finite natural resources”, Arteaga said and added that this causes greater environmental deterioration which will bring about worse working conditions. In relation to the crisis and occupational risks, Arteaga believes that the number of accidents in the workplace is unacceptable due to “implementing the regulations is formal rather than real”. He also warned that too much attention is paid to physical risks and it is necessary to approach “emerging and psycho-social risks”. The Comisiones Obreras representative ended by stating that the permanent features of the crisis and its effects on risk management were constant job reduction and increasing work load and risks; less investment in risk management and less demands of work rights out of fear of losing the job. Regarding the environment in companies, Arteaga said that a work centre with little environmental impact has better future perspectives. This is why he called to “make the most” of the crisis to turn work centres into more efficient places (consuming less and saving expenses) and was in favour of implementing environmental management in companies as a health tool. In this scenario the trade unionist said a social and economic debate was necessary.

From left to right, Mar Fernández and moderator, Amalio Sánchez

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

As for urgent measures to face the crisis, Arteaga put forward three lines: increase of social protection, encouraging the economy, establishing policies of income re-distribution and keeping labour rights. In relation to the measures to be taken in order to change the trend in occupational risk management, he was in favour of including risk management in companies, workers taking active part, encouraging the figure of a delegate in risk management and safety and health committees, training and a greater activity of the work inspectorate and the prosecution office in labour accidents.

Link Juan Jesús Arteaga said that “there is a relation between employment and the environment”

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THEME BLOCK PROMOTING RISK MANAGEMENT CULTURE

Media and Risk Management in the Workplace

On the other hand, the second speaker, María del Mar Fernández Lorente, coordinator of the Department of the Environment of UGT Aragón, started her intervention by saying there are enough reasons to link environmental health and health in the workplace: “The main connection between the workplace and the environment in general is that the source of danger is usually the same regardless of the activity carried out”. In order to control hazards to health and the environment, a common approach is good. “If a similar result or product can be obtained with a less dangerous or less toxic chemical substance, this can lead to reducing or eliminating risks to health and even to the environment”. Fernández Lorente added that the scientific knowledge required to evaluate and control hazards to health of environmental nature are mostly the same as those needed to approach dangers to health in the workplace. In this case replacing a substance for another one that is not so toxic can be sensible from the point of view of health in the workplace, but if this new substance is not biodegradable or Mar Fernández, of UGT damages the ozone layer, it will not be the right solution to control exposure. Mar Fernández Therefore, the speaker said, “in linking “We must approach the problem of workers and health in the workplace with environenvironmental pollution as a whole” mental health the risk of making wrong decisions regarding exposure control is reduced”. This is why it is necessary to take on risk management from the start as this way we manage to have a wide range of beneficial effects for workers, the environment and society.

Max Lum

Head of the Department of Health, Communication and Global Collaboration of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health of the United States (NIOSH)

Moderator José Manuel Diego Carcedo

President of the European Journalists Association

he head of the Department of Health, Communication and Global Collaboration of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health of the United States (NIOSH), which is the federal agency in charge of researching and making recommendations for the prevention of occupational diseases and injuries. The Institute is part of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). NIOSH is the agency responsible for carrying out research related to everything that has to do with occupational diseases and injuries, ranging from miners’ lung disease to the carpal tunnel syndrome suffered by computer users. Apart from research, NIOSH investigates hazardous working conditions when owners or employees require it; it makes recommendations and disseminates information on preventing occupational diseases and injuries; it also provides training for health and occupational safety professionals.

Clean production that first started in the 1990s led to the introduction of technologies using less raw materials with the highest performance and efficiency possible. All this entails an important double saving: in economic terms and in occupational accidents. On the other hand, in all the clean production processes, in order to prevent environmental and work risks, María del Mar Fernández said that in regard of occupational risks, workers have acknowledged legal rights. As for environmental risks, they scarcely have legal rights in the parallel area of, and at times overlapping, environment protection. “At the point we are in –the speaker said- we need to remember once more that the first place where there is risk of exposure to chemical substances is the workplace. Besides, environmental problems spread to the surroundings. What can we think of to attract participation in matters of risk management and the environment? In conclusion, in María del Mar Fernández’ opinion, “it is necessary for workers and their legal representatives, delegates, to become aware of risk management both inside and outside companies and act accordingly”. The goal is based on “approaching the problem of the pollution of workers and the environment as a whole as the solution for both is usually the same and lies in managing risks in their origin, that is, production centres”. 96

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

Max Lum during his speech

As a NIOSH agent, Max Lum talked about the role of media in preventing occupational risks and how to improve communication with different media. The speaker started by mentioning two influencing characters in America’s history: Edward Dawes and Paul Revere. The latter is considered to be one of the patriots in the War of Independence who acted as battle courier. The kind of social network these men had was very important. When we talk about network we are referring to media. Conventions and specialist magazines, for instance, are part of that global network. “One of the problems to inform about science is the amount of information available”, Lum said, who thinks that is why it is fundamental to choose media appropriately. The speaker believes that not only the power of television is important but

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THEME BLOCK PROMOTING PREVENTION CULTURE

also that of the so call social media, like blogs, virtual world, mobile phones, etc. Information social media are the technology people use today to exchange opinions.

Occupational Risk Prevention Awareness in Schools

A study carried out in 2007 by the University of California shows how the media influence the area where we live. Despite the use of electronics, local media have kept their influence”, he said although he also acknowledged that although consumers are more likely to read newspapers than blogs, these are spreading rapidly because people increasingly resort to these portals in search of information. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health of the United States (NIOSH) has a monthly information bulletin “and we can control when it is read and can measure its impact. We also have a blog on road safety. This way people react and give their opinion as it happened, for example, with a forum about the aptitude of women lorry drivers”.

Miguel Ángel Díaz Mediavilla

Castilla y León Director General of Labour

Esther Azorit Jiménez

Andalusia Director General of Occupational Safety Lum underlined the importance of social networks in the Internet

Markets are currently focused on data exchange, this is why our ability to be interactive helps us to make our information more accessible, especially as statistics reveal that young adults (from 18 to 35) resort more to the internet than to the written press when they need information. On the other hand, by word of mouth might seem anecdotic but we must know how to use it in the media. “Traditional websites are useful and practical for businesses but if they really want to reach consumers it is best to resort to social networks which are more practical and widely used”. The speaker suggested the audience “should log in Wikipedia and start a bilateral conversation on the topics they are concerned about”.

Director of the Canaries Institute of Occupational Safety

Moderator

he heads of the work and safety areas of the autonomous communities of Castilla y León, Andalusia and the Canaries held a round table on awareness in occupational risk management at schools. Miguel Ángel Díaz Mediavilla, director general of Labour of Castilla y León, presented a summary of the actions developed in this community in prevention matters, like transversal teaching at schools. He started by mentioning the lack of prevention culture at all levels: “Despite the big effort made for the Law on Risk Management in the Workplace, this problem is still present”.

The important thing, according to Max Lum, is not how many people contact but what type of information they are looking for. “In Youtube, My Space and Facebook there are demographic groups (70% of people on line use this type of sites). These networks do not only offer information, you can make new friends too. In My Space, Max Lum said, “we have a research on firemen”. In short, in his opinion, “there is a fall in electronic mailing and a rise in blogs, that is social networks go up”. In the case of the Wikipedia, it means one of every two hundred searches, he said. This is very important because it shows we must upload information to this portal. “Five months ago I set up a site about the Seoul Declaration of 2008 and the tool is giving good results. Youtube is also very important to offer information and show academic videos”.

Yolanda Rodríguez Bravo

Journalist Diego Carcedo was the moderator

New communication channels “Youtube is very important to offer information and show academic videos”

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

Regarding his political experience he mentioned that in 2003 they reached, in social dialogue in Castilla y León, the first Agreement for Risk Management in the Workplace (2003-2005) aimed at reducing accidents, encourage collective negotiation regarding work health, improve implication in prevention issues, adapt and improve the training in risk offered. The agreement included promoting and implanting preventive contents at compulsory education level schools and improving them at professional training centres. As a result a Prevention School was set up whose actions aimed at Primary and Secondary schools were kept when the said agreement was renewed for 2007-2010.

Members of the round table on risk prevention awareness at school

The Prevention School offers training through games on preventing risks in order to integrate the culture of prevention. There are four goals. The first one is to develop places, didactic material and activities addressed to primary and secondary students which can teach prevention values through games. The second goal is to start an awareness process. regarding risk prevention; the third one is to set the foundations to reach a prevention culture and the fourth goal is to imply the teaching community in the spreading of these values. The project is divided in three parts: the school campaign A salvo, the Prevention Classroom, the website School

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of Prevention, Salvaconsejos (TV and cinema), Ergonomics at school and School awards in Occupational Risk Management. In 2006 the programme A salvo was started, and a bus travelled round the whole community making available to children the games and other materials which had been distributed at schools inside trolley cases. That same year the interactive side of the campaign which includes similar materials to those handed out at schools was finished and included at a web portal. To make the campaign known the first year, 2006, we used a bus, the A Salvo Bus, equipped with a room and an interactive room with fourteen computers. That same year a portal called Prevention Classroom was made available to schools, and it included the different elements being developed. These actions were carried out in the following years.

Taking into account this regulation framework and its goals, the Council of Employment of the Board of Andalusia carried out a scheme at schools called Aprende a crecer con seguridad (Learn to grow in safety), for primary school children; the Prevebús Joven, for Secondary school children and setting up of a Hall of Prevention Culture in Parque de las Ciencias in Granada.

Esther Azorit

The Prevention Classroom is a space created to introduce children in risk prevention. Between 2006 and 2007 a total 2,227 children visited this classroom along with 164 teachers. Students of different levels have benefited from this initiative: primary, secondary levels and Professional Training.

The project Aprende a crecer con seguridad (Learn to grow in safety), was thought out for the whole educational community Andalusia (64,000 students and 1,000 educational centres) and to last for fifteen years. The aim is to teach children to avoid risks and create preventive habits; make teachers aware of the importance of prevention and publish educational material.

The School of Prevention website is a section of the portal prevencioncastillayleon and there is also an interactive website called School of Prevention-Virtual classroom which allows accesses to the functions of the Real Classroom and is complemented by interactive activities. In 2007 a TV campaign about risk prevention was carried out through 10 micro programmes called Salvaconsejos. A year later the campaign Ergonimics at School was launched.

More than 4,000 children took part in the school awareness campaigns last year as 75 towns and 80 schools were visited. For teachers we held training meetings and didactic-technical courses on valuation and prevention of work safety. National meetings were held in Seville in 2004 and Jaén in 2006, the latter brought together more than 300 professionals. To support this training, guides for teachers, didactic and multimedia materials were published.

Representing the Board of Andalusia the director of Occupational Safety and Health Esther Azorit, started by saying that at the early educational stages the lifestyle and habits of children are shaped and that prevention culture must “guide them instinctively in all aspects, including work”.

The Prevebús Joven, for Secondary School children aims at, through workshops, teaching children to recognise risks, avoid them and control them. This scheme also included information sessions for teachers and parents. The latter were trained on risks at home.

To support the campaign carried out by the Board of Andalusia, Esther Azorit used as framework the ruling stating the obligation to spread preventive culture at international, national and regional levels. The goal is to encourage change in behaviour by including safety and health in the education and training syllabuses.

Finally, Esther Azorit talked about the Hall of the Culture of Prevention, set up at the Parque de las Ciencias –opened in November 2008- promoted by the Council of Employment of the Board of Andalusia. Its aim is to inform about the techniques of prevention to people of all ages and has international aims. Events and workshops to celebrate Working Women Day or the European Week on Safety will be held here.

Miguel Ángel Díaz

At a national level, she mentioned the Law on Risk Management at the Workplace of 1995 and the Spanish Strategy for Safety and Health at the Workplace (2007-2012). They both include the need to encourage dealing with prevention at different educational levels. Finally, at a regional level, in Andalusia, the speaker referred to VI Agreement on Social Consensus, the Plan for Risk Management in the Workplace in Andalusia (2004-2008), to take prevention culture to all educational and training levels. She also mentioned the I Andalusian Plan on Work Health and Risk Management of teachers Criticism in state schools dependant on Miguel Ángel Díaz said that the lack of a prevention the Council of Education (2006culture has an influence on work accidents 2010).

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Finally, regarding regional rulings, she mentioned the Andalusia Strategy for Safety and Health in the Workplace (2009-2012) which widens and reinforces the actions related to the culture of prevention and stages actions like campaigns and the celebration of the World Day of Safety and Health at the Workplace (28 April) and the European Week.

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

Yolanda Rodríguez

The last person to talk at the round table was the director of the Canaries Institute on Work Safety (Icasel), Yolanda Rodríguez, who started by saying that the institute was set up in 1998 as the competent body in occupational risk management in the labour administration area. She focused her speech on the actions started by this institute between 2005 and 2008, starting with the campaign for risk prevention awareness carried out between 2006 and 2007 at teaching centres in the Canaries and addressed to some 20,000 children in the sixth year of primary school. The campaign had four goals. The first one was to inform and make students aware through direct actions; the second one was to achieve grater awareness through the study of bur-

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dens on the back and the need to adopt good postures; the third goal was to carry out a descriptive study on the relation between the student’s weight and the school material they carry. The fourth goal was to make parents aware. To achieve the first goal a DVD on occupational risk management were published. A talk was given at schools about individual protection equipment, called EPI and exercises to test things learnt were set.

RELEVANCE OF OCCUPATIONAL RISK MANAGEMENT IN BUsiNESS ORGANISATIONS

With the aim to make them aware demonstrations were made about the risks to the back involved in carrying heavy burdens and bad postures. Demonstrations about the child’s weight and the weight they carry in their school bag were also carried out. Icasel put together the results of this innovative research in a publication. To make parents aware cards were given out for them to fill in with their children.

Vicente Marrero Rodríguez

The second phase of the awareness campaign in schools was developed between 2007 and 2008 under the motto Don’t have the back on your health. With this aim Icasel published The back comic offering school children recommendations to prevent injuries. This time the aim was to make aware inform and train teachers about the need of risk preventing through transversal actions in the classroom. To reach teachers Icasel carried out training actions at Teachers Centres (CEP) where material was handed out like The Back Comic. In order to make children aware two DVDs were published, a talk was given about the need to take care of the back and exercises with questions to test what they had learnt were set.

Moderator Arturo Cabrera González

Another programme developed by Icasel was an itinerant campaign on risk prevention awareness in the field of construction in collaboration with the Labour Construction Foundation through their Mobile Classroom. We wanted to reach construction workers through this action. On the occasion of the European Year to Fight against Muscle-Skeletal Complaints in 2007, Icasel launched a campaign for Primary and Secondary school children which included publishing a DVD, giving a talk and as a new idea students were encouraged to design posters; Secondary School children were asked to write compositions. In both cases –posters and compositions- a contest and an exhibition were organised in each school and then Icasel gave an award to one work per school. The theatre play The adventures of Rufo and the chief inspector was first staged at this campaign and then went on a tour in the other schools in the Canaries in 2008. At the Construction Fair in 2008 awareness activities for children in the sixth year of Primary School were also carried out. Finally, the speaker explained the actions Icasel is developing in 2009 like the occupational risk preventing awareness campaign for Primary school children.

President of the Labour Issues Commission of the Canaries Employers Confederation (CCE) of Las Palmas

Octavio Calderín O’ Donnell

Expert in Labour Relations of the Provincial Employers Confederation (CEOE) of Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Director General of Trade of the Government of the Canary Islands

he relevance of occupational risk management in business organisations was the issue dealt with at this round table in which members of the two Canaries employers associations took part. Octavio Calderín O’ Donnell, expert in Labour Relations of the Provincial Employers Confederation (CEOE) of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Vicente Marrero Rodríguez, president of the Labour Issues Commission of the Canaries Employers Confederation (CCE) of Las Palmas, were the speakers.

Example Esther Azorit: “The scheme “Learn to grow in safety” was thought out for the whole educational community in Andalusia” Training Yolanda Rodriguez explained the program to teach Canaries school children to avoid back injuries From left to right, Octavio Calderín, Arturo Cabrera and Vicente Marrero

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Octavio Calderín, started his speech by raising some issues: whether the management model deriving from the Law on Risk Management in the Workplace is appropriate and when there will be a management model adapted to small and medium size companies.

mission is to advise employers and in trade unions they advise workers and members of the works council, in charge of advising workers regarding risk management. At trade union and business level they also have the duty to train and advise. In fact they publish guides, manuals and good practice lists.

“The management model we have followed so far was thought out for a large industrial company with many employees and even for them it implies a lot of bureaucratic work; in small companies that same bureaucracy is a waste, more so in the case of Canaries companies 80% of which have under six workers”, he explained and added that it implied an expense to small and medium size companies because they had to resort to outside agents in order to comply with the regulations. “The concern is about having the paperwork done and not about managing risks”. Octavio Calderín also asked whether risk management should be considered an expense or an investment. “In 1995 we were told that risk management was an investment because in eliminating accidents cost would be reduced derived from them in businesses, but even if the company is small and accidents or damage to health are not registered, it must nonetheless pay outside companies to deal with everything relating to prevention”, Calderín insisted again and said that “50% of serious or very serious accidents occur in just some 700 companies in the whole of the Canaries. Most businesses then, have no accidents. The representative of Tenerife Employers Association pointed out that risk management is the employers’ responsibility and to that effect said that the Law on Occupational Risk Management in article 15.4 includes the following: “The effectiveness of risk management measures must foresee distractions or non reckless imprudence workers may commit”. On workers’ obligations article 29 establishes that they must cooperate with employers so that the latter may guarantee safe working conditions. Calderín added whether it World be possible to have co-responsibility regarding this matter. The speaker praised the smooth running of the consultancy technical offices on risk management and thought it was not necessary to think about new figures or structures. Consultancy technical offices were set up following an agreement between trade unions and employer associations and have the support of the Government of the Canary Islands. In business organisations their

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Finally, Octavio Calderín stated that developing a prevention culture must necessarily start at school. “The way a society thinks cannot be changad with decrees or by imposing behaviour to adults. It can only be done by instilling these values into children”. He added that specific actions are good but the Canaries Government has not as yet taken on the need to train future workers in prevention values from an early age. “If children acquire safe habits they will keep them when they start working”. Octavio Calderín

Business perspectives, in Vicente Marrero’s opinion, must necessarily increase or develop the prevention culture, involve and give better training to risk management delegates. In Marrero’s opinion, before this culture is taught at school level training to self-employed and unemployed people should be provided in the short term.

Vicente Marrero, during his intervention

Doubt Octavio Calderín asked whether co-responsibility was possible in occupational risk management Analysis Marrero said that risk management policies contribute to encourage growth and employment

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

The second speaker, Vicente Marrero, President of the Labour Issues Commission of the Canaries Employers Confederation (CCE) of Las Palmas, said about the relevance of risk management in business organisations that preventing policies contribute to encourage growth and employment, the viability of social protection systems and allow workers to develop their skills to the full.

Arturo Cabrera was the moderator

Another business perspective brought forward had to do with cutting down absenteeism from work, collaborating with mutual insurers and that outside risk management services become accredited certifying organisations in the future. He also mentioned encouraging the so called Tractor Scheme that allows the main industry to coordinate through specific plans in matters relating to occupational risk management. Marrero was also in favour of setting up risk management technical offices for small and medium size companies as most companies in Spain are these sizes. In conclusion he said: “We are in a position to take on steady systematic commitments in the geographical region of our competence and in coordination with the Spanish and European strategies”. Specifically, Vicente Marrero stated that the politics in occupational risk management must be the same at all three levels. 105

THEME BLOCK RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE WORKPLACE AND BUSINESS EXPERIENCE

Business experience in corporate social responsibility

The speaker unfolded the strategic goals of Aena regarding corporate social responsibility in 2001 which included, in relation to work safety, the protection of goods and people and a plan for risk management at the workplace from 1994. As a result of applying this programme of actions it has been noticed that there has been a clear improvement in prevention culture and a decrease in occupational accidents as they went down by 47% between 2002 and 2008.

Segundo Caeiro Ríos

Director of Endesa Joint Risk Management Service

Andrés Talavera del Pozo

Head of the Risk Management Service of Spanish Airports and Air Navigation (AENA)

Moderator Adrián Mendoza Grimón

Director General of Energy of the Government of the Canary Islands

wo large Spanish companies, Endesa and Aena, took part in the round table on the business experience of corporate social responsibility. Andrés Talavera del Pozo, Head of the Risk Management Service of Spanish Airports and Air Navigation (AENA), started his intervention mentioning that his company, dependant on the Ministry of Public Works, is in charge of the management of civil airports of general interest as well as the facilities and networks of air navigation. Aena manages 48 Spanish airports which had over 200 million passengers in 2008, and is the largest airport manager in the world as it is also responsible for other 16 airports in Mexico, Colombia and Cuba. After introducing the company the speaker approached the definition of corporate social responsibility as a term used by different organisations to refer to concepts like respect for the environment, health and safety, sports citizenship, responsible management, etc.

The representative of Endesa during his intervention

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adopted by institutions and/or businesses which are an added value to the compliance with their legal obligations and contribute to social progress and sustainable development.

He also mentioned the most important forums where this concept has been defined. For example, the social dialogue table defines it as a set of commitments of the economic and social order

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

The plan of business activities coordination of Aena includes identifying general risks on platforms and the coordination process. In the coordination plan for occupational risk management the speaker showed a sketch which included the different communication phases with the identification of risks to third parties, forwarding these reports to Aena, reception and unifying risks and prevention measures, etc. In short, Andrés Talavera wanted to show “the collaboration and transparency in the managing of occupational risks of this public body”.

Andrés Talavera

Another example, in 1994 Aena signed a collaboration agreement with the Building, Wood and Related of trade union Comisiones Obreras (Fecoma-CC.OO) and the State Federation of the trade union Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT) regarding safety and health at the building works promoted by this public business enterprise. “This shows Aenas’s transparency in the management of occupational risk Initiative apart from improving safety and Aena was the first company to introduce health conditions and being the first social agents in construction works company to introduce social agents to works”, he stated. In conclusion, the head of the Risk Management Service of Spanish Airports and Air Navigation said that regarding corporate social responsibility, “never mind how we call it, the important thing is for it to be implanted and obtain sustainable results that contribute to improve the quality of life of all those involved”. And he summed it up in seven concepts: commitment, involvement, participation, integration of occupational risk management, transparency, sustainability and prevention culture. The second speaker, lawyer Segundo Caeiro Ríos, is director of Endesa Joint Risk Management Service, the largest electricity company in Spain and the first private electricity company in Latin America. It is a relevant electricity operator in the European Mediterranean area and it carries out activities in other European countries. It also has an increasing presence in the Spanish market of natural gas.

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In his introduction Segunco Caeiro described how risk management in the workplace has been integrated with the sustainability and corporate social responsibility of the company. The model followed is the drawing up of a Risk Management Strategic Plan (Plan Praevenio) 2005-2009, integrated in the strategic map of business, sustainability policy and that contributes to achieve the goals established by Endesa. In turn, the Praevenio, is reinforced by the said integration.

Business responsibility Segundo Caeiro: “Endesa has a vanguard approach in risk management”

The director of Endesa Joint Risk Management Service presented the results of this politics and made a short demonstration of an update due to the changes in Praevenio Plan 2008-2012 in which the chapter dealing with occupational health and social welfare was balanced.

Segundo Caeiro, of Endesa

“Endesa –he explained- has given weight to risk management with a vanguard approach which includes risk management and corporate social responsibility”. He added that Endesa’s activity entails risk, a reason why dangers should be minimised. “We have established that corporate social responsibility must adapt to the needs of our business. That is why regarding our employees we have drawn up a risk management strategic plan which contributes to the results account and integrates in the strategic map of the company”. Thanks to this, Segundo Caeiro pointed out, in Endesa work accidents have gone down by 80% and absenteeism has gone from 14 to 4 % since 2005.

THEME BLOCK NEW REGULATIONS FOR RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE WORKPLACE

NEW EUROPEAN POLICY ON CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES AND PREPARATIONS Ana Fresno Ruiz

Coordinator of Environmental Risks of the Ministry of the Environment and the Rural and Marine Milieus

Moderator Julián Martín Alcántara

General Director of Occupational Health of Castilla La Mancha

na Fresno Ruiz, coordinator of Environmental Risks of the Ministry of the Environment and the Rural and Marine Milieus, talked about the new European policy on chemical substances and preparations which is described in the European Community Ruling number 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and the Council of 18 December 2006 regarding the registration, evaluation and authorisation or restriction of chemical substances and preparations, also known as REACH. The Regulation, published in December 2006, an amendment in May 2007 and an adaptation in November 2007 caused by the entrance of Bulgaria and Rumania in the European Union, replaces some forty existing rules relating to chemical substances and is a fundamental landmark in the ruled control of chemical substances. The main goals of REACH include guaranteeing a high level of protection to human health and the environment as information relating to chemical substances is made more available. It also intends to keep

This is clearly related to integrating risk management to the company. “The response of participants is also important”, the lawyer said, as it is a common and shared goal all workers at Endesa fight for.

Adrián Mendoza, the moderator

The company’s strategic plan for safety was to be valid until 2009, but it has been updated and the risk management plan will be valid until 2012 under two basic principles: responsibility and the need to influence on that environment. It is also related to behaviour. “We must keep, especially younger workers, the culture of risk management with the aim of modifying erroneous behaviours”, the Endesa representative said. “The II Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks– he concluded by way of example- is an event that manages to change prevention culture and underlines the strong commitment of the Council for Employment of the Government of the Canary Islands”. Ana Fresno Ruiz, during her intervention

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and reinforce competitiveness and innovation in the chemical industry of the European Union and encourage the free circulation of substances in the inside market. On the other hand, it aims at increasing transparency and communication because having more access to chemical, health and environmental information, companies will use chemical substances in a safer way. REACH is the acronym of Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals. To these three phases –Ana Fresno explained- we must add restriction, through which manufacturing, commercialisation and use of certain chemical substances can be limited. An essential aspect of this new ruling is that it covers both substances sold as such or as in preparations and those which are contained in other items. The control systems affect both European manufacturers and importers. REACH is regarded as one of the most ambitious legislative instruments of community history and intends to reinforce simultaneously the safety of the chemical substances for health and environment without undermining competitiveness of the European chemical industry. Other relevant aspects of this ruling have to do with a new distribution of responsibilities, transferring information and ethical considerations.

the existing legislation of notification, coming into effect from 1 June 2008. These substances must be registered before they can be introduced in the European market. In the case of substances in transitional phase, that is, substances which are already in the European market, a transition system is established in order to set stages in the process and avoid overburdening the registration of substances which are already in the European market. To this end a progressive system has been developed which extends registration to June 2018 and establishes priorities so that the benefits of this new legislation can be noticed as soon as possible. Besides, the transition procedure is not automatic and to be able to have recourse to it manufacturers and importers of these substances must do a pre-registration. Companies which do not pre-register will not be able to have recourse to the different transitional phases established.

“ REACH aims at protecting human health and the environment”

The registration process goes on with the evaluation of the information presented. The evaluation process is two-fold. In the first place, the European Agency of Chemical substances and preparations will evaluate the essay proposals and the conformity of the files presented and will notify the Commission and the relevant authorities of the member States the information obtained and the conclusions drawn.

In general terms the REACH regulations will be applied without prejudice of community legislation regarding the place of work or the environment, like the rules on water, the directive on prevention and the integrated control of contamination apart from community legislation relating to the safety and health of workers. The new regulation includes the registration, evaluation, restriction and authorisation phases. Registration is the main principle of this new community policy: substances, preparations or contained in items cannot be commercialised unless they have been registered in conformity with the pertinent dispositions of the REACH ruling. This registration is compulsory for all the substances manufactured and /or imported in the European Union in yearly quantities up to or above one ton. Manufacturers and importers must prepare a registration file and send it to the European Agency of Chemical Substances and Preparations to which end a specific computer application has been generated. The Regulations indicate the information required to register chemical substances which depend on the volume of production. The transfer of information in the supply chain is a fundamental aspect and the new Regulation establishes significant improvements in the safety data forms which must include in an annex the exhibition scenes. In the case of substances in non transitional phase, that is, have never been sold in the European Union before, this registration system replaces

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Anther innovating aspect of the REACH regulation consists of developing a very strict control system for those substances which, depending on their properties, are considered highly worrying. To this end, the Regulation includes an identification system of those highly worrying substances which include those which are carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic for reproduction. In the case of these substances the Regulation has a specific authorisation process for each use. Dispositions relating to authorisation guarantee the right functioning of the inside market while at the same time makes sure that the risks derived from very worrying substances are properly controlled.

From left to right, Ana Fresno and moderator, Julián Martín

Innovation This Regulation is a landmark in the ruled control of chemical substances in the European Union

Authorisations to sell and use them will only be granted by the Commission if the risks involved in their use are properly controlled, whenever possible, or if their use can be justified for socioeconomic reasons and there are no other appropriate alternatives which are economic and technically viable. With the aim of supporting the final replacement of highly worrying substances by suitable alternative substances or technologies, authorisations will be revised periodically. If there is an unacceptable risk to human health or the environment derived from the manufacturing, use of commercialisation of substances which might be faced at community level, restrictions on their manufacturing, use or commercialisation will be established. In making this type of decision the socioeconomic consequences of the restriction and the availability of alternatives will be taken into account.

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Changes in the directive on machinery Julián Virto Larruscain

Department Director of the National Centre for Machinery Verification

Moderator Manuel Alcaide Alonso Canaries Ombudsman

ulián Virto Larruscain, Department Director of the National Centre for Machinery Verification, part of the National Institute of Hygiene and Safety in the Workplace (INHST), explained the changes in the new Directive on Machinery 2006/42/CE that repeals its predecessor Directive 98/37/CE. After incorporating the new text in Spanish legislation through Royal Decree 1644/2008, of 10/10, it will come into force on 29 December 2009, except for gunpowder. The speaker started by giving statistics on occupational accidents in Spain in 2008, from which it can be concluded that the most serious accidents were produced by machines. (20.58% of the total). The changes in this directive refer to the area of application, essential safety and health requirements, conformity evaluation procedures, notified bodies and market vigilance. Regarding changes in the area of application, products subject to the directive are presented more clearly and precisely, differentiating machines, exchangeable equipment, safety components, elevation accessories, chains, cables and straps, mechanical transmission detachable devices and quasi machines.

From left to right, Julián Virto and Manuel Alcaide

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Other changes in the area of application of the new Directive is the fact that it is also applicable to new products like lifts used in building works, portable fastening machines and other portable impact machines of explosive charge. There are also new exclusions. Specifically, new product categories are added to those which were already excluded especially in means of transport like competition vehicles or two or three wheel vehicles but not on the machines they may transport.

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Machines specifically designed for research and temporary use in laboratories are also excluded as well as high tension power equipments. The last change regarding the field of application of the new Machinery Directive is that the boundaries with other Directives are made clearer. With the Low Tension Directive, on the basis of a list of excluded products; it is also changed regarding lifts: lifts moving at less than 0.15 m/s are considered machines and it is established that the Machinery Directive is complementary of the Directive on Agriculture and Forest Tractors.

Julián Virto, of the National Centre for Machinery Verification

Key concepts contributing to clarify the area of application are also set up: Machine, with specific cases; exchangeable equipment, safety components, elevation accessories, chains, cables and straps, mechanical transmission detachable devices, quasi machine, sale, set up and manufacturer. As for the changes in the Machinery Directive regarding essential safety and health requirements, new conditions for new products have been introduced and others have been clarified, reinforced or amplified. Terminology has also been updated. With relation to the conformity evaluation procedures, Julián Virto referred to the procedures in line with modules described in decision 768/ 2008/CE, to manufacturing in-house control. Procedures for machines included in annexe IV have also been modified and a simplified procedure (article 13) for quasi machines, which are not subject to any modules. Regarding changes of the Machinery Directive on notified bodies, Member States must guarantee that the said bodies are regularly supervised. Minimum criteria of technical competence for notification are reinforced too. On the other hand, Member States must withdraw notification to a body if it does not fulfil its responsibilities. The faculty a body has to suspend or withdraw a certificate or the approval of total quality is also clarified. Coordination of the responsible authorities is another new aspect of this European regulation. Finally, relating to changes in the Machinery Directive on market vigilance, Julián Virto informed that the obligations of Member States are more detailed; market vigilante is extended to quasi machines; there will be cooperation and information exchange between Member States and the Commission which will be able to restrict or forbid dangerous machines once it is agreed with the Machinery Committee.

Manuel Alcaide, Canaries Ombudsman, was the moderator

Modifications The new regulation introduces changes on the safety and health essential requirements, the conformity evaluation procedures, the notified bodies and market vigilance

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OTHER ACTIVITIES OFFICIAL CAMPAIGN

OTHER ACTIVITIES MEETING OF THE MIXED EXPERTS COMMITTEE

Scheme to advise employers ‘Stop occupational risks’

The Ministry of Labour and the autonomous communities analyse the future of the Labour Inspectorate

he director of the National Institute of Safety and Hygiene in the Workplace (NSHT), Concepción Pascual Lizana; the councillor for Employment, Industry and Trade of Canary Islands Government, Jorge Marín Rodríguez, and the regional director of Labour, Pedro Tomás Pino presented at a press conference held on Thursday 27 March a scheme to advise employers called Stop occupational risks along with other measures to case application of the Law on Risk Management. The aim of this campaign is for all micro-companies to have access to information and advice on the different types of prevention and the most suitable model for their company. This initiative pursues to increase the number of micro-companies –under nine employees- in which employers personally take on the risk management tasks except for the activities regarding the health watch of employees.

In order to start this project it has been deemed necessary to create an information centre for users called Stop occupational risks. It is a telephone service to advise small companies which will be managed jointly by the INSHT via a free telephone number (901 25 50 50) answered by tele-operators who have been trained in risk management. In the Canaries Autonomous Community it will be done through the information number 012, where specific questions related to risk management will be answered and at the same time will carry out information tasks to employers of small and medium-size companies.

arallel to the papers and round tables the II Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks housed nine work sessions addressed to their called members. Due to the importance of the agreements reached a special mention should be made of the meeting of the Mixed Experts Committee between the Ministry of Labour and Immigration and the autonomous communities regarding prevention and health and hygiene at work. The Mixed Experts Committee, held at the Fuerteventura hall in the Alfredo Kraus Auditorium, studied the nine models to assume competences and coordination which could be established between the State and the autonomous communities regarding work inspection. Meeting of the Mixed Experts Committee

Specifically, after functioning for one hundred years the Spanish Inspectorate, the Central Government and the autonomous administrations are analysing the future of this public institution. The most widely accepted trend in the meeting was to carry out a modification toward giving more competence to the autonomous communities which are currently responsible of overseeing and coordinating but have no organic powers, just functional.

Potential users in the whole of Spain will be approximately 1,200,000 companies with one to nine employees. A guide to explain the application of the regulations on risk management at the workplace in small and medium size companies will be drawn up.

Press conference to present the campaign

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A public advice website will also be set up later. This system will provide employers with the necessary expert help so that they can personally take on the organization of the risk management provided that they comply with the requirements established in article 11 of the Regulations on Risk Management Services. In those cases in which employers cannot legally take on the organisation, the system will take them to a personalised expert advice on aspects relating to the agreement.

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

The meeting was held at the Fuerteventura Hall in the Alfredo Kraus Auditorium

The aim is for autonomous communities to assume more organic competences and to this end they intend to offer the option of choosing from two models: one is for those communities choosing to take on organic and functional competences and the other one is for those which choose to keep the National Body of Inspection but take on coordination and organic functions as well as of distribution of the Work Inspectorate in the autonomous community. The Canaries have chosen the second model because until the new Statute of Autonomy is approved the current one only provides for coordination or functional competences regarding work inspection. As soon as the Canaries have this new judicial tool they would be able to take on more competences within the new framework being worked at.

Jorge Rodríguez during his intervention

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OTHER ACTIVITIES WORK SESSIONS Participating commission of Endesa´s prevention activity

Meeting of Labour Directors General

Meeting of the work group on the scheme for public advice to employers

Work subgroup on accidents in the agriculture sector

Prevecan’09 housed institutional and company meetings

aralell to the II Canary Islands Conference in the Prevention of Occupational Risks different institutional and company work sessions were held most of which belong to the work groups dependant on the National Commission for Safety and Health at Work (CNSST), a chartered advice body of the public administration in charge of setting up risk prevention policies and institutional body participating in issues related to safety and health in the workplace. This Commission is made up of representatives of the State General Administration, of the autonomous communities administration and for the most important business and trade unions associations, which make up four groups. To carry out their duties the CNSST works through plenary sessions, permanent commission and work groups. Specifically and in the framework of Prevecan’09 , two CNSST work subgroups of the agricultural sector met: one dealt with accidents in agricultural activities and the other with work in greenhouses. Regarding the first group the characteristic accidents of the agricultural sector were discussed and a consensus text was agreed; the members of this team took the opportunity of visiting Gran Canaria to learn about banana cultivation and in particular the cutting of banana bunches. The second subgroup looked into the risks and the measures that should be taken to avoid occupational diseases in greenhouses given the recent variations in this type of facilities and the increase in full time workers. The CNSST construction work subgroup in charge of studying safety plans in works made progress in the adoption of measures so that both

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PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

International meeting of work inspection authorities

Uninave occupational risk prevention table

Meeting of the Agora organising committee

documents fit to the reality of the works to be done although the members pointed out that, apart from other aspects, prevention resources in more risky works should be looked into in depth. In the institutional work meetings we should mention the Mixed Experts Committee, made up of the Ministry of Labour and Immigration and the autonomous communities and the meeting of directors general of Labour and Occupational Safety of the autonomous communities. In this meeting issues like the increase in redundancy procedures and the new communications of the Labour and Social Security Inspectorate were approached. The basic points of what should be the new Spanish model of labour inspection were discussed as well as training in risk management, looking into the application of the Bologna agreement regarding high education in occupational risk management. In the institutional section, Prevecan’09 housed an international meeting of labour and social security inspection authorities coming from Peru, Uruguay, Portugal, Spain and the Canary Islands who exchanged experiences and facts in their countries regarding labour inspection. Concerning business work sessions the conference housed the participation commission on preventive action of Endesa and the table on occupational risk management of the Spanish Union of Naval Construction (Uninave) where they talked about starting the so called Project Tractor to coordinate main and auxiliary industries in matters regarding occupational risk prevention. Finally, at Prevencan’09 two organisation committees also met: the organisation committee Agora of the Spanish Strategy for Safety and Health in the Workplace and the committee for Prevention, Protection, Safety and Occupational Health Integral Fair (Laboralia), a meeting that will be held from 27 to 29 May 2009.

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OTHER ACTIVITIES REPORTS Meeting point for professionals Prevacan’09 housed the presentation of 26 studies that look into the problems of occupational risk management

uring the two days of Prevecan’09 more than 25 reports were delivered. They advanced and deepen into the problems of risk management at different levels and activities and at the same time the experiences undergone by some companies and administrations in this field were also shown. These reports took part in a contest and the jury, made up of members of the Scientific Committee of Prevecan’09, agreed to award best report to Exposure to organic vapours in car bodywork by Manuel Rodríguez Valido. They also awarded a special mention, for its innovative character and technical relevance to Recent jurisprudential pronouncements on criminal liability regarding risk management in the workplace by Dulce Cairós. The institutions, organisations, bodies and companies taking part in these reports were: National Institute of Safety and Hygiene at Work, the Canaries Health Service, the Canaries Institute of Work Safety, Tenerife Island Council, , La Laguna University, the University of Cundinamarce (Colombia), Chile Work Safety Institute, UGT-Canarias, ACCIONA, the Government of Cantabria, CA Electricidad de Caracas, ACC Centre of Applied Acoustics, the Service of Occupational Risk Management of Asturias Health Service and Aragon Institute of Work Safety and Health.

Recent jurisprudential pronouncements on criminal liability regarding occupational risk management AUTHOR: Dulce María Cairós Barreto

The Drug addiction plan of the Council of Tenerife

AUTHORS: Carlos M. Reyes González, Enrique Arriaga Álvarez, Antonio Javier Cortés Aguilera, Encarnación Morales Rodríguez, Jorge Ribes Febles and Carlos Romero Melchor

Tripartite commission as a political policy for occupational risks prevention at international level. The case of Colombia AUTHORS: Francisco A Córdoba, Francisco J Córdoba

Prevention action procedures for workers of agreements

AUTHORS: Carlos Romero Melchor, Carlos M. Reyes González, Enrique Arriaga Álvarez, Jorge Ribes Febles and Javier Cortés Aguilera

Collective bargaining: analysis and reports of social agents for an efficient action against occupational risks in the Canaries

AUTHORS: Almudena Marrero, F. Borja Gómez, Javier Bermejo, Jordán Morales, José F. Hernández, Marcial Toste, María de la Paz Márquez and Renato Artero

Risk Management at the worksite of Refurbishing of Castillo de Mata, Museo del Sitio” AUTHOR: Florencio Málaga Martín

New trends in Risk Management in the face of the economic situation in the beginning of the 21st century AUTHOR: Bernardo Díaz Almeida

Descriptive study on postural hygiene and carrying weight in Canaries school children

AUTHORS: Guillermo Loayssa Lara, María Victoria Ruiz Naranjo, María José Fraile Peñate and Elirerto Galván Fernández

Risk Management and social responsibility. Self evaluation in small and medium size companies. INSHT method. AUTHOR: Manuel Bestratén

Success factors in the risk preventing culture generation AUTHOR: Práxedes Real Arias

Analysis of the information obtained in the Checking-up of Risk Managing Activities in Companies. Year 2008. Province of Las Palmas AUTHORS: María Socorro Hernández Sánchez and Adrián Navarro Rodríguez

Humanising Health Services to improve the working conditions of health professionals AUTHOR: Rafael Beltrán Rodríguez 118

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

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OTHER ACTIVITIES

Evaluation by application of fitosanitary products in Canaries farms

Research of accidents in the collection of solid residues

How to approach the evaluation of occupational exposure to electromagnetic fields in physiotherapy services

Research in accidents on erecting prefabricated structures

AUTHOR: Manuel Galindo Ramos

AUTHORS: Tania Berlana Llorente and Beatriz Diego Segura

Criteria to apply Directive 2006/25/CE on occupational exposure to artificial optical radiations

AUTHORS: Manuel Casañas Morales, Juan R. Padilla Baucells and Teresa López Rodríguez

No tension work in electrical distribution networks

AUTHORS: Beatriz Diego Segura and Tania Berlana Llorente

AUTHOR: Nestor Luis Molina Arellano

Psycho-social factors evaluation at Tenerife Island Council

Manual load manipulation in fishing boats

AUTHORS: Ribes Febles, Jorge, Álamo González, José Manuel, Arriaga Álvarez, Enrique, Cortés Aguilera, Antonio Javier, Reyes González, Carlos M. and Romero Melchor, Carlos

AUTHORS: Laura Ruiz Ruiz and Jesús Ledesma de Miguel

Study of workers exposed to vibrations in olive and fruit trees farms

AUTHORS: José Mª Pérez Lacorzana , Roque Rubén Andrés and Alfredo Otxoa

AUTHORS: Victoria Hernández Esguevillas, Francisco Bernier Herrera and Pilar Posadillo Marín

Evaluation of chemical pollutants in asphalting roads

AUTHORS: Carlos Romero Melchor, Carlos M. Reyes González, Enrique Arriaga Álvarez, Jorge Ribes Febles and A. Javier Cortés Aguilera

Grating fire-break device for power transformers in power stations, substations and high tension transformer centres. AUTHORS: Juan Antonio Carlos Sáez and Ramón García Cubero

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AUTHORS: Manuel Casañas Morales, Francisco Miranda Arencibia and Yurima Gimeno García.

PREVECAN 09 2nd Canary Islands Conference on Prevention of Occupational Risks

Study, design and execution of measures to reduce noise in the workplace at Fagor Ederlan low pressure Exposure to organic vapours in car bodywork garages

AUTHORS: Manuel Rodríguez Valido and Rafael Santana Bautista

International experience of Risk Management in the Workplace AUTHORS: Juan Carlos Foncillas Aragón

Analysis of the presence of aspergillus mould of a mushroom plant AUTHOR: Ximena Concha Contreras

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