The Ministry of Labor and social agents have been negotiating for some time a new occupational risk prevention framework to combat accidents in the workplace. Before holding a new meeting – which remains without a date two months after the talks began – the CC OO called for the establishment of specialized occupational health tribunals to shorten the times for resolving disputes in this matter; There is a need to redefine the system for reporting and registering occupational diseases, so that this task does not continue to be the responsibility of the joint funds cooperating with Social Security. This was stated on Wednesday by the Confederation Secretary for Occupational Health and Environmental Sustainability, Mariano Sanz; And Deputy Secretariat Carmen Mancino during the presentation of a study analyzing the statistics of work accidents and occupational diseases for the year 2023.
In order to ensure that labor disputes do not persist over time, one of the main assumptions of CC OO is the establishment of specialized occupational health and safety courts. The text stipulates an additional judicial effort, in which they, in turn, call for increased resources for public prosecution offices specializing in work accidents, “which allow for the establishment of lawsuits to implement a crime of danger against the health of workers.”
“We are facing fatal accidents where families of workers have to wait up to seven years for a ruling. “This is not justice, it is misfortune,” said Sanz, who also criticized the government for its inaction so far in the prevention department. “We must give greater value to the policy Prevention of occupational risks. In this legislative council and the previous one, nothing was done. He added that the main aspects we demanded have not been amended and some of them relate to the regulations related to the 2010 labor reform.
For this reason, the union member saw the need to update the basic rule regulating this practice. “The Occupational Risk Prevention Act approved 30 years ago must be amended to respond to the new challenges of the labor market and correct some of the imbalances that occurred with the 2010 crisis and labor reform,” Sanz noted. He added, “Occupational diseases are not just about getting money for treatment, but if they are not identified, there will be more people who become infected with these diseases.” Likewise, he mentioned that one of the proposals his union will present at the tripartite table is to create a registry of those people exposed to carcinogens to facilitate causality.
Better data
At the first meeting of social agents in February, Labor proposed a roadmap consisting of three blocs: the first dedicated to psychosocial risks and issues arising from mental health problems; Second, it refers to the gender perspective; The third focuses on regulating and preventing occupational risks in the company, especially small and medium-sized companies.
“Mental health is the epidemic of our century,” Mancino said. It was already among us and the pandemic made it visible. Mental health is considered one of the most common diseases that cause temporary disabilities for moderately long periods. This relates to working conditions, such as working in highly stressful or risky conditions. Hence the importance of regulating it and putting it on the same level as the rest of the risks, because now preventive measures have not been adopted.”
The CC OO claims come within the framework of a review of the legal shield surrounding the health of workers in their jobs, at a time when workplace accident numbers have decreased compared to previous years. According to the records of the Ministry of Labor for the year 2023, the number of accidents that led to sick leave during the period from January to December reached 624,911, whether during or during the work day. On the trip. It is 1.1% lower than in 2022, and 1.6% lower than in 2019. As for those that resulted in death, the number also decreased significantly: it went from 826 in 2022 to 721 last year. , that is, 12.7% less.
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