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Contenuto archiviato il 2022-11-21

Study of the attitudes and training needs of Spanish miners

Obiettivo

To develop an effective method of diagnosis for action on human failure in safety: the Human Safety Factors Audit.

In operational terms this general objective was tackled by working simultaneously towards three specific objectives, as defined below:

1. To analyze the attitudes of Spanish miners to safety at work.
2. To evaluate the training needs of Spanish miners.
3. To form a specific methodology to identify, observe and record unsafe practices.
1. Profile of attitudes to safety.
2. A model for evaluation of the safety training needs considering the statutory requirements and the apparent needs.
3. The advantages of training the middle-ranking managers/supervisors in the application of a specific methodology for identifying, observing and recording unsafe practices, directly related to accidents.
4. The Human Safety Factors Audit, which takes in the three results above, and which is proposed as an essential step within a general safety programme, in order to reduce accidents in the mine.
Although there is widespread awareness of the importance of safety at work in most industrial countries, difficulties are still encountered in setting up efficient workforce training and information systems in this area. Very often, no responsibility is assigned in this field except to the specialists in the conventional sense of the term, i.e. to the industrial medical officer, the safety officer and sometimes the trade union representative. Today it is thought that miners do not have suitable training and information and that it is not reasonable to expect them to make a constructive contribution to the safety and industrial hygiene arrangements. Recent research indicates that this is not the case: daily contact with the production process leads to a certain familarity with it, with the result that a modest training and information effort may be all that is needed to arrive at an effective system of prevention.

A vague idea of the hazards associated with a working is not an adequate basis for appropriate action and hence prevention. Responsible behaviour such as to prevent accidents depends to a large extent on the worker's level of training and knowledge. Safety training must be planned in order to ensure compliance with the rules, adoption of safe working methods, the elimination of unsafe practices, the use of means of protection, awareness of the importance of health in general and a reduction in the most harmful habits.

Another major problem in mines safety is that workers are not sufficiently safety-conscious. This, too, is attributable to a lack of knowledge and inadequate training. Generally speaking, workers receive little or no instruction in prevention techniques, accident causes, interpretation of rules, the benefits of preventive medicine, etc. A lack of information is one of the main causes of unsafe behaviour and poor participation.

A knowledge of workers' attitudes to the risk would make it possible to anticipate certain forms of dangerous behaviour.

Among the multiplicity of human factors involved in most mining accidents, some of the most important are attitudes to safety and risk and workers' training and knowledge. Measurement and assessment of these factors can make a vital contribution to improving safety conditions in Spanish mines.

Invito a presentare proposte

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Meccanismo di finanziamento

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Coordinatore

E.S.M.
Contributo UE
Nessun dato
Indirizzo
Viaducto Marquina, 6bajo
33004 Oviedo - Asturias
Spagna

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Costo totale
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