The first group of topics in the general training concerns a few words that look alike but mean different things. Whoever uses them correctly understands better what to do to avoid getting hurt.
Hazard and risk
Article 2 of d.lgs. 81/2008 defines:
- hazard (pericolo): the intrinsic property or quality of a factor that has the potential to cause harm;
- risk (rischio): the probability that this potential for harm is realised under the conditions of use or exposure.
An example: a wet floor is a hazard. The risk is the probability that someone slips and how serious the fall would be. If the floor is in a corridor where a hundred people pass every day, the risk is higher than in a storeroom that one person enters once a week.
A simple way of thinking about it: risk depends on how likely the event is and how serious the harm would be. The hazard can stay the same while the risk changes with the measures taken.
Harm
Harm (danno) is the consequence for the person. It takes three forms.
- Accident at work (infortunio): an event caused by a violent cause, in connection with work, for example a fall or a cut. INAIL (the national insurance institute for accidents at work) also covers many commuting accidents (in itinere), that is, on the way between home and work, under the conditions set by law.
- Occupational disease: an illness that develops slowly from repeated exposure, for example to noise, dust, chemicals or bad postures.
- Near miss: an event that could have caused harm but did not. It is a valuable warning. Reporting it makes it possible to act before harm occurs.
The law also speaks of health: not just the absence of illness, but a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being (Art. 2).
Prevention and protection
- Prevention is the set of measures to avoid or reduce occupational risks (Art. 2). It acts on the cause: for example, replacing a dangerous substance with a less dangerous one.
- Protection serves to reduce the consequences when the risk remains. Examples are the fixed guard of a machine, a guardrail, gloves or a helmet.
Protection can be collective (it protects everyone, like a guardrail) or individual (it protects one person, like PPE, personal protective equipment; in Italian DPI).
The general protection measures
Article 15 lists the general protection measures. The most important:
- assess all risks;
- eliminate the risks or, where this is not possible, reduce them to a minimum;
- reduce risks at source;
- replace what is dangerous with what is not, or is less so;
- give priority to collective protection over individual protection;
- limit the number of workers exposed;
- plan prevention, use signs, give adequate instructions.
This gives an order of choice: first try to eliminate the risk, then to replace or reduce it, then to protect everyone, then to organise the work better with procedures and training and, only at the end, to use PPE. PPE is the last barrier, not the first.
What this means for you
If you see a hazard, report it. If a device is broken, do not bypass it. If you have had a near miss, talk to your preposto (supervisor): the employer can fix the problem before someone gets hurt.