Adapt work to the men

In other words, the health and the safety of the workers aim all the aspects of the social, psychic wellbeing and physics of the workers.To guarantee the safety and the health of the workers, it is necessary that the employers like the employees collaborate and take part in programs of health and safety, concerning with the occupational medicine, the occupational hygiene, toxicology, the formation, the safety of the machines, ergonomics, psychology, etc

One attaches often less importance to the questions which relate to the health of the workers than to the security issues because it is often more difficult to solve them. However, when one deals with health, one also deals with safety, because a healthy work environment is by definition also a sure environment. However, the reverse is not necessarily true. A work station can be sure without being necessarily healthy. It is important to deal as well with the health as of safety on all the work places. As a whole, the definition of health and safety of the workers given above recover health as well as safety in the most general context.

Bad work conditions are reflected on the health and the safety of the workers

* Bad work conditions, whatever their nature, can have effects on health and safety of the workers.
* It is not only in the factories that one meets unhealthy or dangerous work conditions; they can exist anywhere, whether it is inside or in the open air. For many workers like the farmers or the minors, the work place is natural environment and it can present many health risks and safety.
Bad work conditions can be also reflected on the environment in which the worker lives, because much of workers live and work at the same place. That means that the occupational hazards can have harmful effects on the workers, their family and the other members of the community, like on the physical environment around the work place. The traditional example is that of the use of the pesticides in the agricultural work. The workers can be exposed with toxic chemicals in various ways when they Epandent pesticides: they can inhale the products during spreading and afterwards, absorb them by the skin or introduce them if they eat, smoke or drink without washing the hands or if the drink water were contaminated. The members of their family can also be exposed various ways: they can inhale the pesticides which remain suspended in the air, drinking of contaminated water or being exposed to the residues which can remain on clothing of the workers. The other members of the community can also be thus exposed. When the chemicals are absorbed in the ground or contaminate subterranean water, the negative effect on natural environment can be permanent.

Identification of the cause

It is estimated that it occurs at least 120 million industrial accidents each year in the world, of which 200 000 are mortals. (As much country does not preserve precise files and all the cases do not announce, one can suppose that the real figures are much higher.) The number of accidents fatal is much higher in the developing countries than in the industrialized countries. The difference is mainly due to the best quality of the programs of health and safety and with the improvement of first aid and medical equipment in the industrialized countries, like with the active participation of the workers with the decision-making processes concerning health and safety. The accident risk is particularly high, everywhere in the world, the minings, agriculture, the forestry and the construction industry.

In certain cases, the cause of an industrial accident is easy to identify. However, it is very frequent that there is a whole chain of nonobvious events which preceded the accident itself. For example, an accident can be indirectly caused by the negligence of the employer who did not ensure the training of the worker suitably, or of a supplier who gave erroneous information on a product, etc the fact that the rate of accidents fatal is high in all the developing countries underlines the need for programs of health and safety which stress the prevention. It is important as much to promote the development of the occupational medicine, in particular by training the doctors to learn how to them to recognize the diseases related to work at an early stage. Certain occupational diseases are recognized since many years and have various effects on the workers according to nature of the risk, the mode of exposure, the amount, etc Among the well-known diseases, one can mention:

The range of the risks

The silicosis (caused by silica, which one frequently meets in the minors and sableurs for example); poisoning by lead (frequent in the factories of accumulators, painting, etc); the loss of auditive acuteness due to the noise (frequently meets on the airports and in many workshops where noisy machines such as presses or drilling machines are used).

There exists also a certain number of health issues which can be debilitating and which are associated with bad work conditions, for example:

* cardiac diseases;
* disorders of the musculature or the skeleton such as permanent dorsal lesions or lesions muscular;
* allergies;
* problems of reproduction;
* disorders related to the stress.

Many developing countries announce only one small proportion of the cases of workers affected by diseases related to work. The announced numbers are relatively low for several reasons:

* insufficiency or inexistence of the mechanisms of notification;
* insufficiency of the occupational medicine;
* lack medical personnel trained to recognize the diseases related to work.

For these various reasons inter alia, it is reasonable to think that actually the number of workers reached by occupational diseases is much higher than the announced number. In fact, the number of cases and the diversity of the occupational diseases are in increase and not in reduction as well in the developing countries as in the industrialized countries.

Work place

It is very often difficult to determine the cause of a disease related to work. That is due in particular to the latency period, i.e. with the fact that it is necessary sometimes several years before the disease produces an obvious effect on health of the worker. When the disease is diagnosed, it can be too late to do something or to find with which substances the worker was exposed in the past. Other factors like the fact of changing employment or behaviors such as the nicotinism or the consumption of alcohol make that it is even more difficult to establish a bond between the exposure at the risk on the work place and a disease.

One knows certain occupational hazards better today that in the past, but each year new chemicals and new technologies appear which present a new risk and sometimes unknown for the workers and the community. These new and unknown risks present great difficulties for the workers, the employers, the teachers and the researchers, i.e. for all those which are concerned with health of the workers and effects that the disease-causing agents have on the environment.

Points to be retained in connection with the extent of the problem in the world
1.
It occurs at least 120 million occupational accidents each year in the world, of which at least 200 000 are mortals.
2.
The accidents fatal are more frequent in the developing countries than in the industrialized countries, which underlines the need for programs of education stressing the prevention.
3.
Certain occupational diseases are known since many years and assign the workers in various ways. They always pose a problem in certain areas of the world.
4.
The effective number of diseases related to work in the developing countries is much higher than the notified number.
5.
The number of cases and the diversity of the occupational diseases increase as well in the developing countries as in the industrialized countries.
6.
It is often difficult to identify the cause of the diseases or occupational accidents.

The position

An almost unlimited number of risks can be present on almost any work place. There are obviously dangerous work conditions, like the open type machines, the slipping grounds or the insufficiency of the precautions against the fire, but there are also more insidious risks, less obvious, such as:

* chemical risks (exposure to liquids, solids, dust, vapors and gases);
* physical risks such as noise, vibrations, bad lighting, radiations and temperatures extreme;
* biological risks such as bacteria, viruses, waste infected and infestations;
* psychological risks (stress);
* risks related to the non-application of the principles of ergonomics, for example badly designed machines, machines and tools, unsuited seats and work stations or badly conceived work methods.

The majority of the workers are exposed to several of these risks. For example, it is not difficult to imagine a work place where one is simultaneously exposed with chemicals, with open type machines and noisy, with high temperatures, slipping grounds, etc Pensez of your own work place. Does it present risks? The workers do not create the risks - in many cases the risks are related to the work station. Health safety, the position of the trade unions is to make so that work is made less dangereous because of a modification of the work station and methods. That means that the solution consists in eliminating the risks and not to try to adapt the workers to dangerous conditions. To oblige the workers to wear protective clothing unsuited to the climate of the area is an example of what one should not do, i.e. to force the workers to adapt to unhealthy or dangerous conditions, and it is a means for the employer of withdrawing itself from his responsibility by transferring it to the worker.It matters that the trade unions affirm this position, because in the event of accident, it is very frequent that the employers show the worker of negligence.

Create the risks

An almost unlimited number of risks can be present on almost any work place. There are obviously dangerous work conditions, like the open type machines, the slipping grounds or the insufficiency of the precautions against the fire, but there are also more insidious risks, less obvious, such as:

* chemical risks (exposure to liquids, solids, dust, vapors and gases);
* physical risks such as noise, vibrations, bad lighting, radiations and temperatures extreme;
* biological risks such as bacteria, viruses, waste infected and infestations;
* psychological risks (stress);
* risks related to the non-application of the principles of ergonomics, for example badly designed machines, machines and tools, unsuited seats and work stations or badly conceived work methods.

The majority of the workers are exposed to several of these risks. For example, it is not difficult to imagine a work place where one is simultaneously exposed with chemicals, with open type machines and noisy, with high temperatures, slipping grounds, etc Pensez of your own work place. Does it present risks? The workers do not create the risks - in many cases the risks are related to the work station. Health safety, the position of the trade unions is to make so that work is made less dangereous because of a modification of the work station and methods. That means that the solution consists in eliminating the risks and not to try to adapt the workers to dangerous conditions. To oblige the workers to wear protective clothing unsuited to the climate of the area is an example of what one should not do, i.e. to force the workers to adapt to unhealthy or dangerous conditions, and it is a means for the employer of withdrawing itself from his responsibility by transferring it to the worker.It matters that the trade unions affirm this position, because in the event of accident, it is very frequent that the employers show the worker of negligence.

Health safety

Health safety, the position of the trade unions is to make so that work is made less dangereous because of a modification of the work station and methods. That means that the solution consists in eliminating the risks and not to try to adapt the workers to dangerous conditions. To oblige the workers to wear protective clothing unsuited to the climate of the area is an example of what one should not do, i.e. to force the workers to adapt to unhealthy or dangerous conditions, and it is a means for the employer of withdrawing itself from his responsibility by transferring it to the worker.

It matters that the trade unions affirm this position, because in the event of accident, it is very frequent that the employers show the worker of negligence. This attitude implies that work could be less dangerous if the workers modified their behavior or if the employers engaged only of the workers who never make errors. Everyone made of the errors, it is in the human nature, but the workers should not pay their errors of their life. It is not enough to sensitize the workers with the security issues so that the accidents disappear. Sensitizing can be useful, but it does not remove the dangerous methods or work conditions. The most effective prevention of the accidents and the diseases starts at the stage of the development of the methods and the design of the work station. To work out a program of health and effective safety, it is essential that the framing engages and that the workers take part in the effort in order to create and to preserve a healthy and sure work place. The executives should be concerned with all the dangers related to the work and not only of those which are mentioned by the regulation.

All the levels of the framing must regard health and safety as a priority. They must show it while going on the building sites and workshops to speak with the workers about their concerns and to observe the work methods and the equipment. On each work place, the lines of responsibility must be clear and the workers must know who is responsible for the various health questions and safety. The workers often test health issues related to work and do not realize there, in particular for example at the first stages of an occupational disease.