RSPP – COMPETENT DOCTOR – RLS

WORK SAFETY

INDEX

WORK SAFETY WITH RSPP – COMPETENT DOCTOR – RLS

Even those who have never taken a legislative code into their hands cannot but be well aware of how important the issue of Safety in the Workplace can be, in any environment that hosts some employees in their daily work activity. For this reason, today we will try to see together some fundamental figures that guarantee companies to be in line with the latest regulations on Safety in the Workplace. We will therefore deal with RSPP, Competent Doctors and RLS as well.

Even if at first reading these acronyms may seem strange and incapable, just read the few summary lines below, to be able to know everything you need in relation to them. If you want to avoid running into dangerous sanctions, or even heavy fines from the competent authorities for the control of safety at work, it is good that some of the fundamentals present here are better known.

RSPP MEANING

The term RSPP means in the extended form, Head of the Prevention and Protection Service, nothing more than an absolutely necessary, and also indispensable, figure to ensure that any work environment, the minimum standards of Occupational Safety and Health are maintained.

However, going deeper into the density of this figure means first of all understanding what the requirements are to become an RSPP. First of all, it is necessary to have at least a diploma (although it is true that this point can be replaced by actual experience in the role, collected for at least 6 months of time).

The second element is then the possession of the certificate of attendance to all those specific training courses for this type of job position, but also of all the certificates that are able to demonstrate participation, attendance and training in all the necessary courses five-year update for RSPP.

Characteristics that add up to other processes to be known.It is in fact true that the role of RSPP can be both an internal worker of the company, as well as an external professional, as well as, as a last resort, the Employer, however, in relation to some numbers to be evaluated regarding the total number of employees of the specific company.

With regard to artisan or industrial companies, for example, it will be the Employer who will be able to fill this role, only if the total number of employees is equal to or less than 30 workers, the same thing will be true for agricultural companies, or for those of livestock, while the number drops to just 20 operators, if we are talking about fishing companies.

All other companies, on the other hand, obey the limit of 200 workers. A final note must obviously be made on the duration of the training courses, which range from the minimum 24 hours to the maximum 48 hours and above all on the actual roles of this figure that we list below in a summarized and schematic way:

• Calculation of all possible risks within the workspace and communication of the same to the interested parties.
• Drafting of the DVR.
• Planning and information of activities for training on Safety in the Workplace for all employees.
• Adapt the legislation to the needs of specific workplaces.
• To elaborate and verify the application of all the rules for the safety at work.

COMPETENT DOCTOR

When we speak instead of the professional figure who in the field of Safety at Work is defined as “Competent Doctor”, we are dealing with another profile. The occupational doctor or competent doctor is a figure that must necessarily be had within a company, in relation to the legislation for Safety at Work in all companies.

And it is none other than that health figure who has all the professional qualifications to collaborate and in Risk Assessment within the work spaces, even if in this case it is the Competent Doctor who must also take care of health surveillance, that is, the protection that looks at the state of health and above all at the Occupational Safety of each individual worker.

To be effectively defined competent, the doctor must obviously comply with some requirements that we list below:

1. Before anything else, this particular doctor must essentially possess a specialist in occupational doctors, or in any case, as it is defined, preventive of workers and psychotechnics as well.
2. The Competent Doctor must also have exercised the profession of teacher of these specifications of the Competent Doctor function.
3. Registration in the national register of Competent Doctors, of which a self-certification can also be issued.

The appointment of this very particular type of figure is not always and in any case necessary, but there are some companies that just cannot give it up. We list below the risks faced by a company that presents them internally, must necessarily take action upon the appointment of the Competent Doctor.

• Chemist.
• Noise.
• Manual movement of loads.
• Exposure to hazardous agents (such as asbestos).
• Video terminal operators (with too many hours in front of a monitor).
• High voltage.
• Night job.
• Vibrations.

But what are, once appointed, the specific tasks of the Competent Doctor?

Surely the tasks of this figure increase a lot compared to those seen for the previous one. The requirements are also much tougher, because they bring more important tasks. The Competent Doctor is in fact a freelancer who becomes dependent on the appointment of the Employer and will therefore be a public or even private employee, with respect to affiliated structures.

The specific tasks therefore want him to take care of the advice to help the Employer, with regard to all health problems. He will therefore have to implement and think about safety measures suitable for the protection of the health of each individual worker present in the work space, assess the correctness of the performance of each specific task by the workers, thus also carrying out periodic visits inside the company, to make sure that the Job security, is adapted and maintained over time.

Part of the role of the Competent Doctor is also the conservation of all medical records belonging to each individual worker, without ever forgetting the obligation of professional secrecy. The training and information of each individual worker regarding health and safety at work are also an integral part of the duties of the Competent Doctor, who must also organize himself for the insurance of a first aid service inside the factory.

His on-site inspections within the workplace concern the results and problems encountered in the course of his evaluations. His responsibility are all the documents that must be periodically signed in relation to Safety in the Workplace, it is his task and also the constant communication with all the authorities, which are responsible for health surveillance in the workplace.

In the event that psychosocial problems are also shown in some individuals employed, it will be a responsibility to deal with this type of emergence as well.

RLS MEANING

Also for this figure the variety and multiplicity of tasks are not lacking.

The first is to always consult the workers and other competent figures in a preventive manner, regarding the Risk Assessment, another fundamental element is to actually go to the workplace, to check the situation and for the effective assessment of the risks present.

It is also good that the representatives of Occupational Safety are responsible for giving their opinion, always an opinion that also represents that of all the other workers, to the managers of the Risk Prevention Service.

A task that is added to the help and support in particular of both of the previous figures, in the reception of information, in the production of all the necessary documents in relation to the theme of Job security, the promotion of the development and identification of all the necessary prevention measures with also the necessary, at times, recourse to the competent authorities outside the company.

SUMMARY OF RSPP – COMPETENT DOCTOR – RLS

What it is therefore possible to understand more than soon by looking at these three figures is that only by turning to real experts, it is possible to create synergistic teams that are able to ensure maximum safety at work and well-being for all, during all their hours of work, in a work-type space that often it hides some risks.

That in a company it is first of all the Employer to take action in relation to the knowledge of all the technical standards of the world of Safety at Work, is therefore without any doubt the first necessary step for any type of activity, which is able to put its working environments are fully compliant, thus ensuring it with what is in fact nothing more than an investment that looks to the future, from all the possible risks that are always around the corner, in the case of a control that could soon lead to fines large and heavy, or more than heavy, penalties with repercussions also of a criminal nature.

Summarizing therefore on the figures of a Head of the Prevention and Protection Service we have just seen, we could only underline the crucial importance in relation to all the tasks that it must carry out, within the company and always looking at the many programming, information and adaptability of the needs of the Job security, both in practical terms in the work spaces, and also in more theoretical terms as regards all the many courses to be done by each individual worker, which must always be certified through the appropriate certificates.

From this figure we then quickly move on to that of the Competent Doctor, certain we must be sure of the validity of his titles to decree his appointment, but after having made all the scruples for this bureaucratic obstacle, it will be necessary to look with extreme attention to all individual tasks more open to the external space of the company and therefore also to communication with all the competent authorities, which do not depend directly on the Employer.

A synergy that will add up to the best of all with all the representatives for Safety at Work, chosen directly from among the workers. Fundamental, at the end of reading all that has been said, is to take into account the fact that, as will be well seen, many tasks present in all three profiles presented, will be supported in the name of maximum collaboration and, even more plus, a communication and subsequent filing of all the specific documents that must absolutely be flawless.

Just a slight defect in these two very important areas could in fact lead in a very short time to lose control of a situation which, especially in relation to very large companies, which may have 2000 workers, is very complex to manage.

Only by keeping in mind all the individual specific information presented here to the last detail, can you really make sure you create a system for Safety at Work, right in the workplace that is truly flawless and guaranteed from any risk of legal origin.

The first figure of the RSPP and that of the Competent Doctor, must therefore be able to collaborate without obstacles of any kind with all the workers’ representatives responsible for Safety at Work, a not easy task, which is well suited only to true experts in the sector, who have been in the sector for more of a few years, and who therefore know the matter and its particularities without limits.