Fraternidad-Muprespa participates in a conference on ORP in mini-SMEs

Fraternidad-Muprespa was present last Thursday at the conference “Barriers that prevent the efficient use of safety and health at work in mini-SMEs” organized by Fasecolda, Federation of Colombian Insurers, in collaboration with the ORP Foundation.

Natalia Fdez. Laviada, deputy general director of Prevention, Quality and Communication of Fraternidad-Muprespa He intervened on behalf of the Mutua to show an x-ray of the situation of prevention and SMEs, in the case of Spain.

After a description of the history and functions performed by the current Social Security Collaborating Mutual Funds, he offered data on their current reality: they protect a working population of more than 17.5 million, they have almost 1.4 million associated companies, more than a thousand healthcare centers and about 21,500 professionals.

“We mutual societies are the work accidents and occupational diseases avoided, the work of more than 21,500 professionals, the time for more than three thousand fathers and mothers to care for their children, and those responsible for paying benefits, such as the extraordinary one for cessation of activity of the self-employed worker due to covid 19, almost five million euros paid,” he stated and then explained that since 1995, the year in which the Occupational Risk Prevention Law came into force, “work accidents have reduced by 57% but in 2021 there have been 705 deaths and almost 18% more work accidents, therefore something is still not working well.”

Fdez. Laviada went on to list the barriers that SMEs, which represent 95% of the Spanish business fabric, encounter in the field occupational risk prevention is:

• Nonexistence of real preventive culture: the current one is deficient, immature, poorly understood and poorly integrated
• Absence of practical approach in detecting labor needs
• lack of concrete guidelines for action for integrate the PRL
• Lack of a aligned involvement by all the agents involved
• Under allocation of human and material resources in company budget items
• High demand of technical knowledge in constantly changing disciplines
• Excessive bureaucracy
• Lack of real conviction in the functions carried out by foreign prevention services  
• Unattractive: repetitive theoretical training that contributes little
• Reactive approach It only becomes important when there is an accident or there is an official requirement
• Thinking that it goes against production

For this reason, it provided some possible solutions to implement effective prevention of occupational risks:

• Prevention adapted to the nature and level of risks of the company
• Recognize that the prevention It is an integral part of the management of the company and has the participation of the staff
• Establish that responsibility for prevention lies with the entire organization with a commitment to continuous improvement and review.

These solutions converge with the eight concepts that, according to Fraternidad-Muprespa are key to effective prevention:training, information, communication, sensitization, awareness, practical learning, training and leadership.