Health and Safety at Work
Code: 100483 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2500258 Labour Relations | OB | 3 |
Contact
- Name:
- Maria Dolores Fernandez Carou
- Email:
- loly.fernandez@uab.cat
Teaching groups languages
You can view this information at the end of this document.
Prerequisites
GROUP 1 / Loly Fernández Carou / Catalan-Spanish
GROUP 51 / Loly Fernández Carou/ Catalan-Spanish
Objectives and Contextualisation
The main objective of this course is to acquire a global vision of the relationship between work, health, the value of the preventive culture in companies and how to promote the well-being of the working population. The course also aims to develop students' skills to be able to identify the factors that influence the generation of health damage and occupational accidents, with emphasis on the positive effects of work on health in decisions aimed at the management and direction of work teams and organisations.
The course will focus on understanding the binomial work and health as well as the evolution of safety science. In addition, throughout the course, elements will be provided to understand the value that prevention management systems can bring to companies in order to have elements for assessing the ways of organising risk prevention in the company. You will be trained to take into account technical, legal, organisational, psychosocial and labour relations aspects, as well as the gender dimension. The course will be taught from the perspective of the Sustainable Development Goals.
In this sense, the following are specific aims:
- Conèixer els conceptes bàsics de salut laboral, saber-los contextualitzar teòricament i saber-los operativitzar.
- Know the evolution of safety science.
- Know the dimensions of the preventive culture.
- Know the business responsibilities in terms of occupational risk prevention, the legal framework and the preventive principles that guide it.
- Know the most common risk factors present in the workplace, how to identify them and how to prevent them.
- Know the ways of organising prevention, as well as the mechanisms for worker participation in occupational risk prevention.
- Become aware of the differential impact of gender.
- Become aware of the contribution and alignment with the objectives of sustainable development.
- Know the main sources of information and the organisations specialised in occupational health and safety.
Competences
- Advising union and business organizations and their members.
- Clearly expressing ideas or facts in a compelling way.
- Contextualising the social events from a (geographical, historical, economic, ecological, sociopolitical or cultural) global point of view.
- Developing critical thinking and reasoning and communicating them effectively both in your own and other languages.
- Drawing up and formalising reports and documents.
- Identify the foundations of the main legal and organisational areas in the field of human work.
- Identifying, analysing and solving complex problems and situations from an (economic, historical, legal, psychological, and sociological) interdisciplinary perspective.
- Planning, designing, consulting and managing occupational risk prevention systems.
- Self-motivating by undertaking specific training programs to acquire new knowledge.
- Working autonomously.
Learning Outcomes
- Clearly expressing ideas or facts in a compelling way.
- Defining the basic concepts of the relations between society and a company.
- Defining the industrial relations systems.
- Developing critical thinking and reasoning and communicating them effectively both in your own and other languages.
- Drawing up and formalising reports and documents.
- Recognising the psychosocial factors of a company.
- Relating the ergonomics, workloads and other health-related and occupational safety issues.
- Self-motivating by undertaking specific training programs to acquire new knowledge.
- Students must know the basic concepts of the social organization of labour in a company.
- Students must know the basic concepts related to the social agents of industrial relations.
- Understanding and relating the working conditions of a company to security and health at work in that company.
- Understanding the basic concepts of illnesses and labour and occupational accidents.
- Understanding the problems derived from conflict in the industrial relations.
- Working autonomously.
Content
The course will provide knowledge on the following subjects:
1. WORK, RISK AND HEALTH
1.1.Evolution of the forms of health loss and risk prevention policies. Social inequalities and health. Gender and health. Public health and occupational health.
1.2.Relationships between work and health. The concepts of risk and danger. Evolució de les patologies laborals.
1.3.Els danys a la salut: Accidents at work and occupational diseases. Conceptes, definicions i conseqüències legals.
2. THE SCIENCE OF SAFETY
2.1.Evolution of preventive models and the science of safety: Pioneering women in health and safety.
2.2.Preventive culture versus preventive climate: measuring instruments
2.3.The scale of safety culture
2.4. Dimensions of the preventive culture
3.- PREVENTIVE ORGANISATION IN THE COMPANY
3.1. La regulació de la salut a l'àmbit laboral. Principis preventius vigents en la legislació.
3.2. La llei de prevenció de riscos laborals. L'organització preventiva: modalitats i pràctiques.
3.3. La gestió de la prevenció de riscos i el sistema de relacions laborals.
3.4. The different agents involved: Prevention Services. Prevention delegates. Occupational Health and Safety Committees.
3.5. Organisations related to health and safety at work: the role of the Mutual Insurance Companies, the Labour Inspectorate, the Trade Unions, the Labour Court of Catalonia and other organisations related to health and safety at work.
4. ANALYSIS AND MANAGEMENT OF OCCUPATIONAL RISKS
4.1. The Law on the Prevention of Occupational Risks, the role of risk assessment in the management of occupational risks. Types of assessments: by measurement and by estimation. Acceptable risk and social perception of risk. Contextual analysis of risky behaviour. Gender inequalities in the evaluation of occupational risks.
4.2. Transversal preventive activities for the control of occupational risks: training, information, coordination of business activities, especially sensitive workers and those with special needs.
4.3.La Vigilància de la salut i l'anàlisi dels danys a la salut: el raonament epidemiològic.
4.4.Plans d'emergència.
5. CLASSIFICATION AND TOOLS TO IMPROVE THE PERCEPTION OF RISK FACTORS IN THE WORKPLACE.
5 .1. The perception of occupational risk: principles and strategies for its identification.
5.2. SAFETY RISKS: Material conditions, premises, machinery and equipment.
5.3. HYGIENIC RISKS: physical, chemical and biological contaminants.
5.4. ENVIRONMENTAL ERGONOMIC RISKS: Environmental conditions, the bad building syndrome, semicircular lipoatrophy.
5.4. PHYSICAL ERGONOMIC STRESSES: Physical workload, musculoskeletal disorders.
5.5. PSYCHOSOCIAL DISORDERS: Psychosocial factors and stress, moral harassment at work, working hours: shift work, working hours and teleworking.
6. MONITORING AND CONTROL OF WORKING CONDITIONS
6.1 The prevention plan, the planning of preventive activity and the periodic monitoring of working conditions
6.2. Investigation of accidents and incidents: Human error as a cause and the multi-causality.
6.3. Organisational learning. Continuous improvement
Activities and Methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Theoretical classes | 22.5 | 0.9 | 3, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Oral presentations and information search | 22.5 | 0.9 | 1, 4 |
| Seminars | 7.5 | 0.3 | 4, 6, 7, 12 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Autonomous organization of the student | 47.5 | 1.9 | 2, 14 |
| Team work | 45 | 1.8 | 5, 11 |
The course will be taught by means of lectures and seminars with practical cases in the classroom. There will also be work during the course to apply the knowledge worked on in the classroom.
In accordance with the proposed criteria, the course will use the following teaching methodology:
1- Theoretical classes
Throughout the course, lecturers will give various presentations on the main concepts and theoretical proposals for each unit of study.
2- Seminars
The seminars will consist of the discussion, presentation and debate of a series of practical cases and selected lectures on the thematic content of the course. At the beginning of the course, the lecturer will provide the schedule of discussions and debates.
3- Practical application work during the course with an individual part and a part in pairs.
Groups of 2 people will be formed. Each group will have to do a work that combines the knowledge seen in the classroom with a real case from their environment, thus reflecting on working conditions and risk prevention in the real world. The teacher will give detailed instructions at the beginning of the course on how to do this and there will be group supervision of the progress during the practical sessions.
4- Information gathering and oral presentations
Throughout the course each student will have to prepare a public presentation based on the reading materials and/or the information collected for the group work. These presentations will be made in groups, following a timetable that will be established at the beginning of the course.
5- Autonomous student work
Each student will have to do one part of the practical application individually and another in pairs, and will also have to prepare to answer two individual written tests (multiple-choice test and short-question test), as well as to prepare the presentations of theconclusions that will be discussed in class.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Assessment
Continous Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exam | 50% | 2 | 0.08 | 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 |
| Seminar | 25% | 2 | 0.08 | 1, 4, 5 |
| Team work | 25% | 1 | 0.04 | 5, 8, 11, 14 |
In accordance with these criteria, the assessment of the course will consist of:
a) An individual written exam (40%)
b) Group work (30%)
c) Seminars (30%)
At the beginning of the course, the teachers will give detailed instructions on the material and the timetable for the discussions.
In order to pass the course, it is essential to pass sections a) and b) separately.
Students will be assessed provided that they have completed a set of activities, the weight of which is equivalent to at least 2/3 of the total qualification for the course. If the value of the activities carried out does not reach this threshold, the subject teacher may consider the student as not assessable. If a student does not take the exams or does not do the group work, he/she will be considered as 'Non Avaluable'.
In the make-up exam, the maximum mark that can be obtained will be a 'Pass'.
A student who copies or tries to copy in an exam will get a 0 in the course and will lose the right to the re-assessment. A student who presents a practice in which there are indications of plagiarism or who cannot justify the arguments of the practice will get a 0 and will receive a warning. If the behaviour is repeated, the student will fail the course (0) and will lose the right to a make-up.
Bibliography
References bibliography:
Reference legislation: law on the prevention of occupational hazards and royal decrees of development.
European Commission (1996) Guidelines for risk assessment in the workplace. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.
Espluga, Josep (1996) "Actos Inseguros en el Trabajo. Guía de intervención". Nota Técnica de Prevención 415-1996. Barcelona: Centro Nacional de Condiciones de Trabajo, Instituto Nacional de Seguridad e Higiene en el Trabajo.
Espluga, Josep & Caballero, Xavier (2005) Introducción a la Prevención de Riesgos Laborales. From work to health. Barcelona: Ariel (chapters 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15).
Vega Martínez, Sofía (2003) "Riesgo psicosocial: el modelo demanda-control-apoyo social (I). Notas Técnicas de Prevención, núm. 603. Barcelona: Centro Nacional de Condiciones de Trabajo - INSHT.
Aitana Garí Pérez, Marina Ortiz López, Nieves Moreno Saenz Clara Llorens Serrano (2023) "Conflicto trabajo-familia o doble presencia como riesgo psicosocial: Marco conceptual y consecuencias" NTP-1185-1186).
Vega, Sofía (2003) "Psychosocial risk: The demands-control-social support model (II)". Notas Técnicas de Prevención, no. 604. Barcelona: Centro Nacional de Condiciones de Trabajo - INSHT.
Basic manuals:
Fomento del trabajo (2023) Nuevos enfoque en la gestión de la seguridad y salud laboral (2023) New approaches to occupational health and safety management.
Espluga, Josep; Caballero, Xavier (2005) Introducción a la prevención de los riesgos laborales. From Work to Health. Barcelona: Ariel.
Generalitat de Catalunya (2010) Manual for the identification and evaluation of occupational risks (version 3.2). Barcelona: Directorate General of Labour Relations (Department of Labour of the Generalitat of Catalonia). [URL: http://scur.cat/4PFE87 ]
Ruiz-Frutos, Carlos; Delclos, Joan; Ronda, Elena; García, Ana María; García Benavides, Fernando (2014) Occupational health. Conceptos ytécnicas para la prevención de riesgos laborales. Barcelona: Masson (Elsevier Spain).
Complementary bibliography:
Benach Joan (2005): Aprender a mirar la salud. El Viejo Topo. Barcelona.
Cox, T.; Griffiths, A.; Rial-González, E. (2000) Work-related stress. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.
Durán, Francisco (2001) Informe sobre riesgos laborales y su prevención. Madrid: Presidencia del Gobierno.
Espluga, Josep (2006) “Siniestralidad laboral y sociedad del riesgo. Paradojas de un desencuentro”, Sociología del Trabajo, núm. 58, p. 137-158.
Espluga, Josep; Caballero, Xavier (2005) Introducción a la prevención de los riesgos laborales. Del Trabajo a la Salud. Barcelona: Ariel.
Eurofound (2012) Fifth European Working Conditions Survey, Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. [www.eurofound.europa.eu]
García Benavides, Fernando.; Ruíz Frutos, Carles.; García García, Ana Maria, Salud laboral. Conceptos ytécnicas para la prevención de riesgos laborales. Barcelona: Masson, 2000. (2a edició)
Grupo de Trabajo para el establecimiento de los Valores Límite de Exposición Profesional españoles (2018). Límites de exposición profesional para agentes químicos en España 2018. Madrid: INSHT.
Karasek, R. (1998) “El modelo demandas-control: Enfoque social, emocional y fisiológico del riesgo de estrés y desarrollo de comportamientos activos”. En: OIT, Enciclopedia de Salud y Seguridad en el Trabajo. Madrid: Ministerio de Trabajo y Asuntos Sociales.
Kauppinen, K.; Kumpulainen, R.; Houtman, I. (2003) Gender Issues in safety and health at work. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities
Lazarsfeld, P.; Jahoda, M.; Zeisel, H. (1996) Los parados de Marienthal. Madrid: Ediciones de la Piqueta.
Moreno, Neus & Solé, Maria Dolors (dir.) (2005) Dones, salut i treballs. Barcelona: CTESC.
Nogareda, Clotilde. (coord.) (2000) Condiciones de trabajo y salud. Madrid: Instituto de Seguridad e Higiene en el Trabajo.
Peiró, J.M. (1999) Desencadenantes del estrés laboral. Madrid: Pirámide.
Pérez Bilbao, J.; Nogareda Cuixart, Clotilde.; Martín Daza, F.; Sancho Figueroa, T. (2001) Mobbing, violencia física y acoso sexual. Barcelona: Centro Nacional de Condiciones de Trabajo – INSHT.
Prieto, C. (1994) Trabajadores y Condiciones de Trabajo. Madrid: Hoac.
Ruiz-Frutos, C.; Delclos, Joan.; Ronda, Elena; García, Ana Maria; Benavides, F.G. (2014) Salud laboral. Conceptos y técnicas para la prevención de riesgos laborales. Barcelona: Masson (Elsevier España).
Sennet, R. (2000) La corrosión del carácter. Las consecuencias personales del trabajo en el nuevo capitalismo. Barcelona: Anagrama.
Vega Martínez, Sofía (2003) “Riesgo psicosocial: el modelo demanda-control-apoyo social (I). Notas Técnicas de Prevención, núm. 603. Barcelona: Centro Nacional de Condiciones de Trabajo – INSHT.
Vega Martínez, Sofia (2003) “Riesgo psicosocial: El modelo demandas-control-apoyo social (II)”. Notas Técnicasde Prevención, núm. 604. Barcelona: Centro Nacional de Condiciones de Trabajo – INSHT.
Vogel, Laurent (1995). “El descubrimiento del Síndrome Ardystil: discurso médico y relaciones entre precarización y salud”. Sociología del Trabajo, núm. 23, p. 111-127.
Vogel, Laurent (2003) The gender workplace health gap in Europe. Brussels: TUTB.
Software
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Language list
| Name | Group | Language | Semester | Turn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (PAUL) Classroom practices | 1 | Catalan | first semester | morning-mixed |
| (PAUL) Classroom practices | 51 | Catalan | first semester | afternoon |
| (TE) Theory | 1 | Catalan | first semester | morning-mixed |
| (TE) Theory | 51 | Catalan | first semester | afternoon |