Environmental working conditions for the optimization of occupational safety.

Going through the multiple changes that the conception of work has undergone throughout the history of man has reached the current situation in which, far from being a means of subsistence, it is indispensable for the social valuation and development of creative activity, constituting a right and duty of the person. That is why the trend in the field of environmental working conditions leads to achieve a better quality of life for workers in order to avoid that the health of the man who worked may be affected by the conditions that he himself created. (Cortez, 2007).

Source

From the above considerations, it follows that the environmental conditions of work are part of a natural ecological interaction; that is, the relationship that exists between the worker and his environment, allowing a system consisting of man and work environment vital and important for the achievement of the objectives undertaken by any organization and should not pose a risk. In the same line, according to the standards UNE - EN - ISO 8996 raised by Grau and Grau (2009), exposure to environmental conditions of workplaces should not pose a risk to the safety and health of workers. In this sense, it is of utmost necessity to ensure a safe working environment.

Corresponding to this, every organization must provide the highest occupational safety to workers because it is a duty and responsibility to provide an environment with a preventive point of view. Therefore, Article 44 of the Organic Law of Workers (2012) specifies that employers are obliged to ensure that the occupational health and safety committee and its recommendations are adopted in the work entity. Since, the work environment must be designed and maintained in such a way that the physical, chemical and biological conditions do not have harmful effects on people, but preserve their health, as well as their capacity and willingness to work. They shall take into account both objectively measurable phenomena and subjective appraisals. ISO Standard 6385/81 (cited in Sánchez, 2003).

Source

In this sense, in some Latin American countries such as Venezuela; for more than a decade, they have developed a high level of industrialization producing the need to incorporate workers to the labor field, this led to the urgency to innovate the process and environmental working conditions, regulate the rights and duties of workers in order to reduce risks, increase occupational safety.

The Organic Law of Prevention, Conditions and Environment of Work, (2005), in its article 1 numeral 1: Establish the institutions, norms and guidelines of the policies, organs and entities that allow guaranteeing the workers, male and female workers, conditions of safety, health, well-being in an adequate work environment, favorable for the full exercise of their physical and mental faculties, through the promotion of safe and healthy work, the prevention of work accidents, occupational diseases, the integral reparation of the damage suffered, the promotion and incentive to the development of programs for recreation, use of free time, rest and social tourism. In the context of this Law, it is inferred that the environmental working conditions must be subject to the harmonious, safe and optimal development of the environment where the workers work, thus leading to occupational safety and hygiene that allows industrial safety in the facilities of the entire organization.