Work and man have such an ancient relationship that it is impossible to talk about one without necessarily mentioning the other, because the development of human physical and intellectual capacity has led to such a considerable evolution of the trades and professions that we need adequate methodologies to practice them.
Technological progress makes it increasingly essential to adopt behaviors and actions that protect the integrity of the individual in their work environment, and this is where Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) methods set their sights.
Yoel Almeda Barrios, PhD in Technical Sciences from the University of Matanzas (UM), said that the first OHS studies date back to the Renaissance with the Italian Bernardino Ramazzini, whose work De Morbis Artificum Diatriba talked about the diseases that workers in specific professions had.
Ramazzini is considered the Patron Saint of industrial medicine, and it was from his work that the relationship between man-work-health began to be analyzed, which with the Industrial Revolution became more important due to the increase in science and technology, which led to long working hours and a high number of mutilated people, he explained.
OHS is closely related to Ergonomics, a scientific discipline that deals with the interactions between humans and other elements of a system, since its limits are very blurred by placing the figure of man as the center of the study and promoting his integrity, added Almeda Barrios.
OHS is based on the management of occupational hazards and seeks to reduce the number of accidents or incidents and the appearance of the so-called occupational diseases.
In post-revolution Cuba, the protection of workers changed drastically for the benefit of their integrity. At present, the Labor Code recognizes 35 diseases, whereas Article 69 of the Constitution establishes that the State must guarantee the safety and health of all workers.
“The country has adopted the ISO 45001 standard on the establishment of OHS management systems in the business sector. Every workplace has a specialist in the human capital or human resources department, although the entire burden of responsibility for the protection of the employees falls on the top management,” he explained.
Every April 28, the United Nations General Assembly celebrates World Day for Safety and Health at Work with an annual international campaign to promote safe, healthy and dignified work, and to pay tribute to victims of occupational accidents and diseases.