The importance of training and information on prevention

Training and information for the healthcare personnel who play a vital role in the field of prevention and safety at work are defined by the Consolidated Law 81/2008 as follows:

• Training: educational process which grants workers or other subjects working in the prevention system the knowledge they need to carry out their duties in total safety.
• Information: the group of activities which can help to identify, reduce and handle work- related risks.

Therefore there are two different aspects both extremely important as INAIL pointed out in 2002 which are essential to prevent occupational risk.

It happens quite often now that following accidents at work or, more generally, during inspections, meetings, debates, the issue of how workers can prevent a negative event from happening comes up. In fact the main scope of the training process is to enable a change of behaviour.

The training is based on learning mechanisms which take into consideration these three levels: 'Knowing', 'Doing' 'Being' to carry out a set working activities completely focusing on the safety of the worker without affecting the performance's outcome. The aim is to introduce new habits and patterns which factor risks in, thus changing what needs to be changed at an operational level. It often happens that people act following habits or consolidated procedures which do not stem from specially-made practices. The training provides staff with the learning tools to put the rules and the safety principles into practice by taking into consideration not only their role in the company but also the working environment each worker operates in.

The information is based on the transmission of contents carefully organized from the issuer to the receiver. The content of the communication is called the message and it is transmitted through various kinds of means that vary according to the context . They are often, brochures, short articles on safety at work (INAIL 2002).
Without going to too much into the details of the minimum requirements for the training which are regulated by the Agreement between the State and the Regions, (Agreement n. 221/2011), in order to make the training effective it is necessary to set an evaluation plan for the training which includes a test on its impact on the working context by:

• Selecting the situations and /or the patterns to be monitored;
• Defining the standards, the levels and the indicators which make these situations and patterns acceptable.
• Engaging all the people working at the various levels in the organization such as the employer, managers , authorized personnel, workers.
• setting up periodic checks to control, review, guarantee a constant suitability, pertinence and efficacy of the learning process to handle both the health and safety systems at work.

The element that connects what we said so far is the transition from a traditional course to a training project, namely to define the nature of the problem, or the problems we have to deal with, the times and the resources to achieve the goals we want to achieve and evaluate the results we reach. Planning the learning activities allows to put the participants at the centre of the system and therefore highlight the problems we dealt with to trigger an analysis of the risks involved.
Therefore both the training and the information will be more worker-centred. The workers will be held accountable and they could not 'claim ignorance on risk and dangers they will be properly informed and trained on'
The importance of the training on safety at work is always growing and therefore the staff in each contest needs to be properly trained and develop new skills and abilities.
Training and professional activity are not strictly linked one to the other nor they are alternative. The training is part of the working activity in order to integrate the training activities with the working activities and effectively put the training into practice. The legislator this time gave more importance to all the themes related to safety at work. The previous Law Decree (Law decree 626/1994) was not so deeply focused on this matter despite being a point of reference on these matters for years.
The training is aimed at changing the patterns the workers are used to follow at work in order to better keep their own safety and guarantee the safety of the working environment.