Hygiene and security at work

ABOUT SAFE AND SECURITY AT WORK - D.Lgs. 626/94
The institution in the 1994 of the D.Lgs. 626, that belongs to a system of prevention and security at work, has imposed to the firms to provide certifications and to form and inform the employees about the correct work mentality of participation and collaboration, directed to the realization of a workplace that guarantees safety and security to workers, due to many risks and dangers in the workplace.

The guarantee of the security of the employees in the workplace has become very important, not only for social aspects (defence of employee's safety) but also for the possible sanctions to the employers.
There are many obligations to face: certifications given by Public Beings (municipality, fire department, and more), certifications given by professionals (law 46/90 for electric plant…) and self certifications to show the respect of particular obligations (D.Lgs 277/91 for noise control…).
The D.Lgs 626 has introduced important innovations in the field of safe and security of employees in the workplace, and it has changed the whole prevention technique, it presents a prevention and security system based on the active participation and on the collaboration of many people, interested to the realization of a workplace that guaranteed the safe and security of employees.
This system is articulated on two important lines: an operation line where employers, managers and office directors are involved, and a consultative line that belongs to the prevention and protections system.
An active part belongs to the employees, both in the preventions activity, with the election of the representer of the workers for the security, and in the management of the fire, safe and security emergencies (with the emergency team).
Unfortunatly the subsequention of modifications and integrations to the law of security at work has contributed to present the new law as an imposition: so seeing the security as a load, obligation, trouble and cost.
Instead, the new law doesn't change anything of what already was established by the precedent laws (Dpr 547/55, Dpr 303/56, Dpr 164/56, dl 277/91, Dls 475/92) that look after technique aspects of the security, to which the firm has already executed.
The new law 626/94 has brought a new vision of security and growing managemental aspects derived from it, in fact there are many benefits that the employer may get from the implementation of a security system seen in quality optics, i.e. not a security seen as a load and obligation, but a security seen as an integrated part of quality.
Acting before a potential damaging event happens means also to establish some procedures to avoid the improvisation, above all when there are unusual or unexpected conditions, and hence more risks.
The reduction of uncomformings, like the risk reduction, means reducing possibile damages and thus reducing the costs of the unquality improoving the efficiency and the efficiency of the firm's system.
At the base of this discourse there is however the ethic argue of safety and security value for the workers.
What we want to underline is that executing and improoving the security's system means, like for the quality's system, estabilish a policy and hence firm's aims, establish a management, identify the resources to be used, and define the responsibility, the procedures and the operative instructions to be followed.
Both the systems have to adopt a firm's policy diffused and comprehended in every firm's level.
From all these considerations results that the aim of a security's system isn't only a fulfillment of the law to the obtaining of the certification as a quality's system, but both have to bring firms to an improovement of the management of firm's resources, starting from the human ones.
Hence it needs inducement, to all firm's levels, a cultural and behavioural change from "acting as the Law (Security) imposes or the Market (Quality) demands" to "transform every new event, technical rule or duty of law, in an opportunity and in an advantage for the firm and hence (but above all) for the worker himself.

For helping the firms that have to fulfill these laws obligations and to the employees formation, there are counselor's offices that give many services, helping firms to the realization of all the obligations demanded from the law, as technical help of consultation, analysis and planning that belongs to the implementation of safe and security's systems, formations and informations, work medicine and fire emergency, guaranteeing a plan aimed to every single productive reality and/or service ones, and an efficient management of these systems during the time, with periodic uploadings and check ups.
These offices help the firm in the correct application of the laws that belong to safe and security at work, with the collaboration of technicians that with risks evalutations are able to appraise and to program the correct security measures to reduce gradually the risky conditions. Moreover, they manage courses of formation and information in the security field.