All work involves some risk. Preventing harm means knowing the risk and acting before anyone gets hurt. This first lesson explains the words used throughout the course.
Work and health
Health is not just "not being ill". It is also physical, mental and social wellbeing. Work can look after health (it provides income, routine and relationships), but it can also damage it if conditions are poor.
Working conditions are everything that affects your safety and health: the premises, machines, products, the environment (noise, heat, light), the organisation (shifts, pace, breaks) and the way people treat each other.
Hazard, risk and harm
- Hazard: something that can cause harm. A staircase without a handrail, a bare wire or a corrosive product are hazards.
- Occupational risk: the possibility that a person will suffer harm arising from work. It depends on how likely it is and how serious the harm would be.
- Risk factor: a condition that increases the risk, for example a wet floor, poor light or being in a hurry.
- Work-related harm: illnesses, conditions or injuries suffered in connection with or because of work (this is how Ley 31/1995, article 4, defines them).
- Serious and imminent risk: one that is likely to materialise in the immediate future and may cause serious harm. Later you will see that in this case work can be stopped.
Accident at work
The General Social Security Act (Ley General de la Seguridad Social, article 156) defines an accident at work as any bodily injury that an employee suffers in connection with or as a result of the work they do as an employee. It also includes the accident in itinere, which occurs on the way to or from work, under the conditions set by law.
Some examples: a fall from a ladder, a cut with a knife, a burn, being hit by a forklift truck, a back injury from lifting a weight.
Occupational disease
This is a disease contracted through work in the activities listed in the table of occupational diseases (Real Decreto 1299/2006) and caused by the substances or agents that the table indicates. An example is deafness caused by years of noise.
Unlike an accident, which happens suddenly, a disease usually appears gradually, through repeated exposure. That is why it is easy not to notice in time.
Other conditions
Some harm is neither an accident nor in the table, but arises from work: back and neck pain, fatigue, stress, anxiety, eyesight problems from using screens. These are also work-related harm and can also be prevented.
Incidents and near misses
An incident or near miss is an event that caused no harm but could have: something falls beside you, you slip and do not fall. It is a free warning. If it is reported, the employer can correct the cause before anyone is injured.
Why accidents happen
There is almost never a single cause. Usually several add up:
- Technical: unguarded machines, tools in poor condition, slippery floors.
- Organisational: haste, shortage of staff, unclear instructions, lack of training.
- Human: tiredness, distraction, overconfidence, breaking a rule.
Blaming only the injured person does not help prevent the next accident. Prevention looks for the causes and removes them.
Prevention and protection
- Prevention: avoiding the risk or reducing it at source.
- Protection: limiting the harm when the risk could not be eliminated (for example, with a helmet).
Prevention comes first: it is better that there is no fall than that there is a net to stop it.