Enrique Arriaga (Tenerife): "OHS in administrations has not evolved in the same way as in companies"
In his interview for SICUR NEWS, the head of the Technical Service for Occupational Health & Safety of the Inter-Island Council of Tenerife states that occupational health and safety in public administrations has not evolved in the same way as in private companies. He also points out that their ecosystems are different, so in each case it is necessary to correctly identify the different actors and their motivations.
How has occupational health and safety evolved in public administrations?
Occupational health and safety in administrations has not evolved in the same way as in private companies. The regulations for adapting the OHS law to the different administrations and the differentiated control mechanisms, such as audits and action by the Labour and Social Security Inspectorate (ITSS in Spanish), mean that the requirement for its application does not progress at the same speed.
What differentiating aspects are there in addressing health and safety in each area?
When implementing occupational health and safety in the public administration, we must bear in mind that the "ecosystem" of a private company and that of an administration are different. Correctly identifying the different actors and their motivations will determine the strategies for implementing integration.
The management, employees and clients of private companies are equivalent to political, civil servant and public positions. Political positions have a rotation period of four years or less, depending on elections, so that projects with this frequency have priority over medium and long-term projects, such as the integration of occupational health and safety. Targets and budgets are often more driven by electoral programmes and satisfying citizens and voters than by improving the working conditions of public employees.
Civil servants, who are the workers, are often reluctant to change, so integrating health and safety activities into their daily work can be difficult if the right tools are not used. The public is looking for their problems to be solved and does not look favourably on the their taxes being invested to improve the conditions of civil servants, so they have zero demands on OHS. If we add bureaucracy to all this, which makes initiating any procedure to implement health and safety measures (whether civil engineering works, procurement, etc.) more complicated, there is another additional obstacle to the application of occupational health and safety.
In this context, what are the keys to the successful integration of health and safety in administrations?
A combination of four factors would need to be present: political impetus, a preventive structure, an adequate management system, and the support of employees and trade union organisations. With regard to the political impetus, there is usually a big separation between the professional civil service structure and the political structure, which means that issues related to OHS remain in the civil service block. This is where the political party must be involved, which is often unaware of what is happening in their fields. Regular reporting by means of statistics and scorecards to each politician in the governing councils, comparing different areas and with clearly marked objectives, will radically change the degree of involvement.
The health and safety structure is another crucial point for successful integration. A well-sized health and safety service with enough experts for each discipline will make this work easier, due to proximity, empathy and day-to-day involvement with the rest of civil servants.
The public administration is governed by the application of the procedures defined by the civil service. And what better way of integrating OHS than through the implementation of procedures. A good OHS management system (e.g. based on ISO 45001) with a clear and precise documentary structure facilitates the application of the constraints in civil servants’ daily work. The ease of application of the procedures is more important than the objective of certification, which in the case of administrations does not provide value to the public, unlike in companies, which adds prestige in the eyes of clients.
Finally, and as an additional factor in guaranteeing integration, there is the support of the trade union organisations, which are very strong within the administration, and which usually support all the measures carried out by the health and safety service and facilitate the collaboration of public employees in integration.
Does it really work?
Yes, it does. Our health and safety service has been operational for almost 25 years and we have achieved real integration, which the 15 members of the service improve upon every day, as attested by numerous awards and distinctions received during this period, which encourage us to continue improving each and every day.