Mass tourism was born in the 1950s, this event has transformed the lives of many countries and their citizens, becoming a motor of change in their economies, creator of wealth, employment and transmitter of culture, depending on those who they are and those who arrive, achieving a greater rapprochement between the men and women of the world.
Despite the fact that the last third of this century has been characterized as a period of global crisis and recession, the tourism sector continues to show a flattering prospect of expansion, with continuous evolution and development, permanently carrying out the projects required by constant demand. increase.
This accelerated growth of tourism is the result of the importance that over the years this sector has represented for the nations that have based on it, part of their economic and social development.
As time passes, global competitive pressures grow and as a consequence customers are constantly changing
In this coming and going of people it has become a continuous learning, so that clients have learned to choose, they know what they want and what they pay, putting the desire for comfort, security, in short, QUALITY.
World statistics show that of the technological events that have led to incidents and the greatest disasters, they demonstrate that 50-80% of them have had human error as a direct cause or have been one of its fundamental components.
Despite the trends in recent stages of directing efforts in the area of security, to the technological component in an attempt to diminish the role of man in the face of processes, reality shows that man is the only one capable of making spontaneous and unintended decisions in the event of unforeseen events. So an error during the design can lead to subsequent failures of the systems that would have a human origin. (Hernández, 1998).
Man is the decisive factor in the production process, without his arduous and conscious participation it cannot be executed efficiently, it may be thought that with the robot man is placed in the background, but who has designed and built the robot, who gives maintenance, etc. It is man, so even with robotics, automation and computer science, man remains the active and fundamental element in the production process.
If the care, maintenance and preservation of equipment, machinery and tools is important for the vitality of production and services, much more so is man and with a greater connotation in a system like ours; because in a generic sense it is the most precious thing in society. So there is no doubt that in the production process special attention must be paid to the safety and health at work of man in its double significance as a human-social aspect and in the economic impact, when a worker becomes ill or has an accident. influences the economy and the quality of production, the cost rises because you have to pay the salary to which the sick or injured person substitutes and to this the subsidy; there are effects on the production process, since one worker with less skill than the other,it damages the entire production process.
Occupational safety and health encompasses not only concepts of protection and hygiene at work, it also includes fire and environmental aspects, but goes further, because it covers the risks that can affect people, equipment, facilities and surroundings. Keep in mind that when work is not carried out in a safe and healthy way, the work activity does not achieve the expected productivity, the equipment, the facilities and the environment suffer, which have consequences in the quality and efficiency of production and services. This is eliminated when the entity's management directs the activity of occupational safety and health as one of the decisive factors for achieving its fundamental objective: Produce or provide services with the highest quality and efficiency. (Lind,1989).
Safety and health must be viewed in a comprehensive way, which is why those responsible for work safety and those who ensure worker health are closely related to those who care for the quality and efficiency of production and services. directed by the entity's management as the person most responsible for the application of a safety and health management system with the aim of achieving high quality and high efficiency in a safe environment at work.
1.1. Occupational Health & Safety. Conceptualization.
Within the daily activities of personnel administration, is the safety and health of workers, an element of HRM on which we focus our work, since there are risks at work that endanger people's health. To know what are the risks that work has for health, we must be very clear first of all that it is Health since the idea of being healthy also evolves and is different according to times and peoples. Without forgetting these variations, we can take as a model the definition that the World Health Organization gave in 1946, according to which: "Health is a state of physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of harm and disease".
Risk is understood as the possibility that a worker or facility suffers certain damage derived from work. Its magnitude is expressed as a function of the probability of occurrence of the event and the severity of the possible consequences taking into account the risk exposure, that is, the frequency with which the worker is exposed in time and space.
Generally it can be determined that material damages and health can originate when there is the possibility that risk and man coincide spatially and temporally, from the analysis of this relationship the fundamental measures for its control are derived.
Safety means the state of working conditions in which the influence on workers of risk factors is excluded. (Mojena, 1997)
The prevention of professional risks must take into account all those working conditions that may affect the health of the worker, for which we must know all the possible risk factors present at work. Prevention is understood as the set of provisions or measures adopted or planned to improve working conditions in order to avoid or reduce occupational risks. Prevention by its very definition is carried out in the workplace and consists both in promoting risk prevention through the corresponding technical and informational assistance and in monitoring compliance with the regulations governing the occupational health and safety system. (Manso, 1998).
1.2 Prevention of Occupational Risks
Accidents and occupational diseases at work are today one of the greatest risks. Productivity takes precedence over safety, causing serious harm to the worker. The phrase 0% of production failures should be changed to 0% of accidents in the production process. Safety is not an expense but an investment for different reasons that we will develop in this work, the paralysis of the activity in case of serious and imminent risk with the economic prejudice that this entails or the closure of the workplace when circumstances of exceptional gravity occur. in the infractions in the matter of safety and health at work, all without prejudice to payment of the salary or compensation that may be applicable; quite a ruin for the company.
Therefore, a change in business culture is necessary, trying to promote communication with workers, eliminating risks, providing training and correct information on the use of Management Systems in the company to prevent risks. (Manso, 1998), understood as Risk Prevention Management to the appropriate control strategies, including the design, projection, investigation, organization, monitoring and review of prevention measures, to eliminate and minimize risks and their consequences. These should correspond to the results of the risk assessment. The level of risk can be minimized by applying management strategies or by deciding not to carry out the applied procedure, method or work process. (Mojena, 1997).
1.3 Evaluation and control
The efficiency in the management of any program and of course the security programs are not the exception. They are achieved provided that an adequate system is established that allows evaluating and controlling the fulfillment of each planned task and that also includes the economic component.
This control must be carried out from the worker controlling his area, equipment and work instruments and even his own conduct to the highest level of management, who will control the most general aspects and indicators.
This process should include:
- Setting precise goals and methods to assess results. Measuring results and comparing against goals.
Throughout this process, previous statistical data may be used in relation to work accidents, fires and breakdowns, as well as knowledge of the risks. General sanitary and hygienic conditions, the results of environmental measurements and medical check-ups carried out on workers. (Bestratén, 1997).
Company managers should be trained and have the means that allow them to calculate their own degree of risk, being trained to compare with other companies or countries.
In this sense, the following restrictions must be taken into account:
For example, FIs and GIs are statistically valid only above a certain number of hours worked (10 to six) and much more in the case of infrequent accidents, below these limits the figures end.
If it is a matter of knowing which are the most repeated aces and the working conditions that generate it, the opinion must be simple based on statistics and inspections. However, if it is intended to know the health status of workers, methods must be applied to analyze the environment and specialized medical check-ups are required.
Changes in the production process, changes in activity levels, changes in raw materials, new investments, new products and technologies should be considered in the control.
Control is definitive in achieving safety effectiveness, since the key to these achievements lies precisely in managing procedures with the corresponding performance and results measurement systems.
1.4 The preventive organization. Principles and functions
Although until now it has been made explicit that the integration of preventive activity implies the commitment of the entire line of command from senior management and even the workers themselves, this does not mean that it does not require its own organization that is in charge of promoting and the evaluation and control of occupational risks. We could fall into extremes and security could go from being "everyone's task" to "nobody's task".
We always have to take into account that work safety must be part of the efficiency of areas and groups, of the responsibility of the bosses, the discipline of the workers and the responsibility and quality of the work of the technicians, but we must to add that the functions and responsibilities in each case must be perfectly established.
In most countries (for example Spain and other South American countries), after a certain size of companies, the legislation establishes that there is a Health and Safety service that acts in the management area, which must to be a quality prevention adviser, both for managers and technicians and for workers through their union representatives.
However, in general, there is no unitary system for organizing prevention, since this will depend on how the company is organized, its productive characteristics and the level of risks.
On the other hand, as in any other sphere of business management, success will depend on:
X The will of the management to implement a prevention policy and the knowledge of it throughout the command line.
X The preparation and management level of the personnel responsible for its development.
X The requirement and control of each of the controls towards subordinates.
However, the most effective preventive organization model will be the one that manages to fully integrate into the productive organization and that makes managers, technicians, managers and workers assume the responsibilities they have in this area. On the other hand, this model must achieve effective comprehensive risk management that considers quality, safety and the environment.
Currently, in our country as a result of the contraction of the economy and the adoption of a set of measures that in the organizational and structural order have been taken by the organizations and companies; The organization and control of work safety activity have deteriorated, which must be rescued based on principles that are in line with current reality and are flexible enough to allow for dynamic and consistent work. These principles are as follows:
- Work safety must be integrated as one more element in the organizational system of the company and of each labor group and they are aimed at solving the essential aspects and problems of risks, raising quality and protecting the environment. to be achieved in relation to safety and health at work must be perfectly defined, concretely and reflected in the general company regulations, the Organizational Regulations of the PHT or other organizational documents that the entity has (in the field of workshops, brigades, etc.) Achieve an adequate conjunction between the functions, responsibilities and authority of the direct heads of production. Ensure that the tasks aimed at achieving safety and health at work,together with raising quality, they become one more objective in personal development programs, the selection of equipment, control and inspection of companies. The organizational structure adopted will correspond to the technical-productive characteristics of the company., as well as the management and technical cadres that are available to face this task (the integrated or specific security modality, discussed above, may be adopted according to the conditions). The existence or not of a specific area to attend to security and Health at work, its subordination to the technical area of human resources, production or management, will depend on the characteristics of each place. This structure must allow agility in knowledge and problem solving,responding to the proposed objectives and achieving adequate coordination between the areas. In particular, they will maintain a close relationship with the family doctor, located in each workplace, who, in addition to providing the required medical services, carries out important preventive work. It would be advisable to integrate the medical and security services into a single unit that would allow an interdisciplinary work in risk control, guaranteeing a wide participation of the collective of workers in the analysis of problems, the search for solutions and the control of compliance with the measurements.who, in addition to providing the required medical services, carries out important preventive work. It would be advisable to integrate the medical and security services into a single unit that would allow an interdisciplinary work in risk control, guaranteeing a wide participation of the collective of workers in the analysis of problems, the search for solutions and the control of compliance with the measurements.who, in addition to providing the required medical services, carries out important preventive work. It would be advisable to integrate the medical and security services into a single unit that would allow an interdisciplinary work in risk control, guaranteeing a wide participation of the collective of workers in the analysis of problems, the search for solutions and the control of compliance with the measurements.
The basic functions to be developed by a security area should be aimed at:
- Carrying out systematic diagnoses and analyzes of risks and the cost of possible damages, analysis of working conditions, organization and execution of self-inspections, preparation of preventive plans and programs that will be approved by the highest management. of a preventive policy, developing specific tasks such as environmental controls, pre-employment and periodic medical check-ups for workers, coordination and updating of action plans in cases of emergencies. Advice to bosses and workers on programs related to safety and occupational health development and collaboration in education and training programs.Evaluation and control of programs to improve the quality of working life and, as far as possible, associated with the quality of the production process or services.
1.5. Cost-Benefit Analysis in Prevention
The prevention of occupational risks has traditionally been associated with a field of social improvements regardless of the economic advantages that it could bring. Security has been made in companies because ethically and legally society and workers have raised an increasing demand and sensitivity for the subject, however the economic aspects related to it came to be considered secondary.
By developing the above topics, it was seen how companies are currently undergoing significant changes in their management and an awakening of their awareness of the importance of the human factor as the center of all productive activity. Greater attention is given to human resources and their working conditions in order to ensure their maximum productive effectiveness, understanding the close relationship that exists between productivity and working conditions.
However, although interest in improving Occupational Safety and Hygiene has developed, these issues are still not considered and evaluated with the same economic dimension as other aspects considered to have a greater impact on business profits. The economic evaluation of investments in this activity has been neglected, tending to consider the human aspect of improvements and financial statements as two different things, instead of considering that in the company, economic, technical and social factors interact. Today the improvement of working conditions should not be understood as some think, but as a key element for reducing costs, in addition to constituting an element that motivates and changes the attitudes of workers,promoting any business objective in which your contribution is required, such as the Total Quality Programs.
In reality, demonstrating the economic profitability of measures to improve the quality of working life can be difficult, and only now is the need for means to help understand the economic and social benefits of prevention understood. (Martínez, 1991).
At this point it is necessary to remember that the preventive concept today is considered in a broad sense, facing all possible risks of damage, promoting all those actions that can contribute to improving the quality of working life, the quality of the production process and the quality of the finished product. The borders between the risks whose consequences materialize in damage to people's health, damage to the company and damage to society disappear.
Cost-benefit analysis is understood to be the balance between the cost of implementing preventive measures and the remaining risk.
The cost-benefit criterion takes into account the possibility of material damage occurring, both to the installation, as well as production losses during the periods of shutdown and in the repair of the damage.
1.6 Comprehensive System for the Prevention of Occupational Risks in Hotels. (SIPRL)
In order to maintain constant monitoring of risks, it was decided to implement a Comprehensive Risk Prevention System, the elements of which appear below:
- Carrying out risk assessment in the hotel. Each job, each team, each machinery, each facility must be analyzed by a commission made up of members of the center's management. Those responsible for the area where the object of analysis, the technicians and the most qualified workers. Commission to carry out the study of the risk possibilities that this object may have, using the known techniques to carry out said activity. The hotel must define the work program for the elimination of the risks of work accidents and illness approved by the hotel's board of directors, establishing the level of knowledge that the worker must have to face that possibility of risks and avoid, with their safe action, accident and disease, breakdowns,fires and damages to the environment, among others. Activity of the doctor located in the Hotel and its link with safety at work. The role of this doctor has to do not only with the health of the worker to avoid diseases, but also in creating a safe work environment. It is essential that the doctor knows the workplaces, the conditions in which the tasks are carried out, the work environment, in order to define how each factor can alter men's health. With this we are referring to the doctor specialized in occupational or occupational medicine. This doctor must have a series of other knowledge in areas such as labor laws, professional pathologies, work physiology, ergonomics and epidemiology among others.It is necessary to work together with the occupational safety technician and jointly exercise a series of actions in matters of prevention of professional risks and working conditions. This is increasingly essential in the current context of the Cuban economy. The periodic updating of the lists of personal protective equipment that are necessary for the worker to carry out his work in a safe environment is the result of the lifting of risks, where it is defining which are the means of individual protection necessary for the performance of work, taking into account those that are essential for work throughout the workday, those required for the performance of a specific activity and those that are used in the event of a breakdown,but they must be available to the worker in a nearby place, protected and in optimal condition. Among the means of individual protection we must also distinguish those that are to protect the worker, those that can not stop being used and those that if not used can cause death or consequences in the worker, so when defining the policy All these elements must be taken into account when acquiring these. Periodic training: On the measures that you must adopt in carrying out your activity in the job where you work, it is of vital importance, so it should not only be given when It begins its working life but it must periodically be updated, much more when technological changes have occurred, in the organization of production or work,that the safety conditions in the workplace change. All this does not obviate that workers must know the general legislation that supports occupational safety and health, training must be framed in an annual plan that includes the preparation of leaders, technicians, direct managers and workers in the Occupational safety and health matters.The hotel must have the technical personnel that are essential to advise and control the activity of safety at work. These personnel will be in close relationship with the entity's doctor,will be in charge of controlling the measures to be applied as a result of the risk survey and the investigation of occupational accidents that occur and to propose the generalization of the measures that have been indicated, they must be adopted to avoid work accidents that have occurred in other centers and that can be presented in the entity, in addition to organizing and being in charge of the operation of the workplace health and safety commission of the workplace; which is chaired by the hotel manager and composed of the doctor, those responsible for the technical areas, labor resources, the work protection technician, the union section, the fire and environment representative,technicians and workers with recognized experience and the organizations of the center where they will analyze the measures that have been adopted and the status of compliance and others that are considered appropriate to provide safe working conditions for workers.
An important activity of the work protection technician is the investigation of work accidents, in accordance with the established methodology, to define the causes that originated it and the protection of the measures that allow eradicating the causes that originated it and the execution and control of said plan. The self-inspection of the factors of the company is essential to verify that the work is carried out in a safe environment, which must be carried out periodically according to the instance being carried out and in correspondence with the possibility of risk of equipment or installation. This self-inspection must be carried out by the head of the area before the start of the working day, the department head and by the work protection technician and the entity's doctor.Another aspect to take into account is the disclosure that must be done in your workplace and how to do it well, which is the best way to avoid accidents: it is the direct disclosure with the worker in the workplace, the one where he works.; It is the communication of the boss with the subordinate on a daily basis, it is the explanation for not executing unsafe acts and complying with the safety regulations of the job or installation. This does not exclude the murals and meetings on occupational safety and health that are held with the collective of workers.It is the explanation for not executing unsafe acts and complying with the safety regulations of the workplace or installation. This does not exclude the murals and meetings on occupational safety and health that are held with the collective of workers.It is the explanation for not executing unsafe acts and complying with the safety regulations of the workplace or installation. This does not exclude the murals and meetings on occupational safety and health that are held with the collective of workers.
- The preparation of the file by equipment and installation that according to the risk survey has the possibility of the occurrence of accidents, where the history on the measures that have been adopted to avoid accidents in said equipment or installation, record the accidents of work that have occurred, their causes, measures taken and compliance, the name of the workers who work there, the training that has been given, must contain the economic effects that have occurred due to accidents that have occurred in the equipment or installation, where the expenses for the social security benefits paid are recorded. Medical assistance and medicines, losses due to interruption of production, wage expenses, the affectation of productivity and quality, which affects the image of the hotel,in its organization and discipline, the expenses caused by breakdowns and other data that may affect the occurrence of risks. The file is linked to the clinical history of the workforce that is compiled by the center's doctor. The union's activity in the management of health and safety at work in the center is of vital importance, so their participation is necessary. Active consciously demanding that the administration and workers fulfill their duties in the protection of work. The stimulation is an element that should not be lacking in the management of safety and health at work, so it is essential to have a stimulus system in the hotel for maintaining a period without accidents, for having created a safe environment in the workplace, in the team,in the installation, which has allowed safe work; stimulus that must reach workers, area managers, managers, groups and hotels, highlighting the importance of safety and health at work as a premise of quality and efficiency as a human and social factor in our social system. Decisive elements in union work are that the Movement of Protected Areas and union social inspectors fulfill the objectives for which they were created and the occupational safety and health commission.Decisive elements in union work are that the Movement of Protected Areas and union social inspectors fulfill the objectives for which they were created and the occupational safety and health commission.Decisive elements in union work are that the Movement of Protected Areas and union social inspectors fulfill the objectives for which they were created and the occupational safety and health commission.
The preparation of a regulation for the management of the safety and health at work of the hotel, where the actions for the prevention of work accidents and the breakdowns caused by them and the health of the worker are indicated. This regulation cannot be a rigid scheme established by legislation that must be automatically executed by the hotel, it must take the general principles on which the Occupational Health and Safety Management System is based and creatively adapt it to the realities, needs and possibilities of the same, which allow you to achieve objectives of quality and efficiency of services,The regulation must define the responsibilities of each leader in risk prevention and in the execution and control of the measures adopted to eradicate unsafe working conditions. It would be convenient to establish a system of penalization on infractions of safety measures at work approved by the body, in accordance with the provisions of the collective labor agreement.
Conclusions
- A change in the business culture is necessary, trying to promote communication with workers, eliminating risks and providing training and correct information on the use of Management Systems in the company to prevent risks. With the application of the SIPRL, mitigation or eliminate the risks to which workers in the different areas of the facility are exposed.
Bibliography
- Bestratén Belloví, M. and Gil A. (1995). Seminar on management, organization and economics of prevention in the company. Ed. INSHT. MINTRAB. Spain.Bestratén Belloví, M. et al (1990). Work Safety. Ed. INSHT. MINTRAB. Spain. Chameleon C. (1998). Radical improvement, savings and savings of an integrated risk prevention management system. Human Capital No. 116, p. 44 Garcia, J. (1989). Protection and Hygiene at Work. Matanzas University. CubaGetino, O. (1993). Tourism and Development in Latin America. Ed. Limusa México. Norway Editors Group. MéxicoGurría, M. (1991). Introduction to Tourism. Ed. Trillas, SA. Spain Hernández J. (1998). Human factors and security. MINBAS.UE.CubaLind, N C. (1989) Risk in modern technological society. Mapfre Security. No. 34. Second Trimester. Spain Manso L. et al (1998).Security and health at work. Human Capital No. 116, p. 32 Spain Martínez, M A. (1991). Economic criteria in the investment of Security Mapfre Security. No. 41. First Trimester. SpainMojena E. (1997). Resolution 23/97. MTSS. CubaMoré G. and Carmenate, G. (1996). Human resources management. MINTRAS. CubaVillalba, E. (1996). Tourism, foundation and development. Volume I. Spain
