Safety does not depend on one person alone. D.lgs. 81/2008 builds in every company a prevention system with specific duties and roles. This lesson describes its structure.
Risk assessment and the DVR
The starting point is the risk assessment. It is carried out by the employer, with the prevention and protection service and the occupational physician where there is one, consulting the workers' safety representative (RLS). The result is written in the risk assessment document (documento di valutazione dei rischi, DVR).
The DVR (Arts. 28 and 29) contains, in summary:
- the criteria used to assess the risks;
- the prevention and protection measures and the PPE chosen;
- the programme for improving safety over time;
- the procedures and the roles of those who must carry them out;
- the jobs that expose people to particular risks.
The assessment must be redone when the work, the organisation or the equipment change, or after significant accidents or on the basis of the results of health surveillance.
The employer cannot delegate the risk assessment, the DVR and the designation of the RSPP (Art. 17).
The prevention and protection service
The prevention and protection service (SPP) is the set of people, systems and means, inside or outside the company, that deal with prevention. It is coordinated by the RSPP (the head of the service) and may have ASPP (officers). It helps the employer to identify risks, choose measures, prepare procedures and propose training. In some small companies the employer may carry out the RSPP's duties directly, if they have attended the required course.
Emergency teams
The employer designates the workers in charge of fire fighting, evacuation and first aid, and they are trained for it. Anyone designated cannot refuse except for a justified reason (Art. 43). Everyone else must know the emergency plan, the escape routes and the assembly point.
The periodic meeting
In companies with more than 15 workers the employer calls a safety meeting at least once a year (Art. 35). The employer or a representative, the RSPP, the occupational physician, if appointed, and the RLS take part. They review the DVR, the trend of accidents and occupational diseases, health surveillance and the training programmes. Another meeting is needed when the risk conditions change significantly.
Information, training, practical instruction
These are three different things (Art. 2):
- information: giving workers useful knowledge, for example who the RSPP is, what the risks are, where the exits are;
- training: an educational process to give the knowledge and procedures needed to work safely;
- practical instruction (addestramento): guided hands-on practice in the correct use of equipment, machines, PPE and procedures.
Workers are entitled to all three, in the cases provided for by law.
The participation system
The Consolidated Act also gives a role to workers and their representatives. The RLS is consulted on risk assessment, designations and training. The joint bodies (organismi paritetici), set up by employers' and workers' associations, can also support companies and cooperate on training. A company in which everyone takes part has fewer accidents than one in which safety looks like the employer's job alone.