Guest-Column
“Safety:
a quest
In the years following the enactment of the
Prevention of Occupational Hazards Law in
1995, many social and institutional activities
have been carried out in the area of safety
and health. All Public Administrations be-
came committed to intensive policies which
have materialized in various plans of action
that have been applied, most particularly
in companies with high accident rates. A
clear outcome of these initiatives has been
the reversal of the rate of on-the-job acci-
dents in comparison with the fgures recor-
ded in the nineties.
It seems evident that the achievements to
date must be consolidated and that we
should continue to focus on this core ob-
jective. The “crash plans” have given fruit,
but it is necessary for Administrations to
redirect their actions towards a policy of
sustainability that encourages and recogni-
zes efforts and the effciency of ongoing im-
provements contemplated in the preventive
measures implemented.
Promoting management integration and the
consolidation of the culture and objectives
of prevention are among the key objectives
contemplated in the Spanish Occupational
Safety and Health Strategy (2007-2012)
which promotes “enhanced effciency and
quality of the company’s prevention sys-
tem”.
The Prevention department and its profes-
sionals play an essential role in this new sta-
ge. These professionals should be conside-
red agents for promoting changes within
the company to achieve increasingly safer
and healthier working conditions.
A few months after his appointment and
even though it might seem surprising to us,
the new British prime minister, David Ca-
meron, rapidly started to analyze the British
occupational safety and health system and
requested a report on this issue to ensure
that British safety and health laws regained
some common sense.
When it comes to prevention
management, we must not be tempted
to have an egocentric vision
Corporate Director of Occupational Safety and Health
Corporate Human Resources
(Employee Services)
By Juan Carlos Sáez de Rus