Occupational Hazard Prevention and Protection Measures
Item 10: Occupational Hazard Prevention Measures
1. Measures of Prevention
Prevention encompasses all activities or actions undertaken or planned across all phases of business operations to prevent or mitigate occupational hazards. From this definition, we can infer:
- Prevention is integral, as it must be present at all stages of business activity. This means it affects all departments and employees.
- The objective of prevention is to preemptively address risks.
Prevention aims to prevent or reduce risk by acting on the cause.
Protection, however, does not eliminate risk but minimizes its consequences by acting on the worker.
According to the LPRL (Ley de Prevención de Riesgos Laborales):
- Firstly, eliminate or reduce risks at their source. If not possible, implement measures in the transmission path of danger (Prevention).
- If this is also not feasible, act upon the worker (Safeguards).
2. Principles and Prevention Techniques
Principles of Occupational Hazard Prevention
The following principles should be applied:
- Avoid the risk: Eliminate all potential risks, regardless of cost.
- Assess unavoidable risks: Evaluate risks that cannot be eliminated to determine their severity and probability.
- Combat risks at their source: Prioritize addressing risks at their origin over managing them during transmission or reception.
- Adapt the job to the person: Tailor equipment, working methods, and production to the individual. The goal is to reduce monotonous and repetitive work and minimize health risks.
- Consider technological advancements: Stay updated with technological evolution.
- Substitute the dangerous: Replace hazardous elements with those posing little or no danger.
- Plan prevention: Develop a comprehensive prevention strategy.
- Prioritize collective protection: Implement measures that protect groups over individuals.
- Provide clear instructions: Inform workers about workplace dangers, job-specific risks, and machine operation.
Techniques for risk prevention to improve working conditions and worker health include:
- Workplace Safety: Primarily aims to prevent accidents through discovery, control, and correction.
- Occupational Health: Focuses on environmental contaminants in the workplace, responsible for discovery, measurement, and evaluation.
3. Means of Protection
Security measures, while not eliminating risks, mitigate their effects by acting on the worker. These can be categorized as collective or individual.
3.1. Collective Means of Protection
These measures simultaneously protect all individuals exposed to a risk. Collective protection measures take precedence over individual measures, which are used only when the former are ineffective, impossible, or as a supplement.
3.2. Individual Protection Means
These techniques protect workers from specific risks in their work environment. They are employed only after exhausting other prevention and protection avenues or to complement them. These are commonly known as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
Responsibilities of Employers:
- Provide appropriate PPE to workers free of charge.
- Ensure the effective use of PPE.
- Inform workers before use about the equipment, the hazards they protect against, and when to use them.
- Provide instructions, preferably in writing, on the proper use and maintenance of PPE.
- Train workers in the use of PPE.
Responsibilities of Workers:
- Based on their training and following employer instructions:
- Properly use and care for PPE.
- Place the equipment in the designated location after use.
- Immediately report any defect or damage to the equipment that may compromise its protective efficacy.