(Finance) – While, on the eve of themeeting on the problem of the summer heat the pressing of the unions on the government continues, in view of the confrontation scheduled for tomorrow, on the table of the Ministry of Labor there is the draft of a ”shared protocol for the adoption of measures to contain occupational risks from exposure to high temperatures in the workplace”. In 11 pages, the document deals with the points ranging from the assessment of risks and risk factors, linked to age, the presence of chronic pathologies and duties, to health surveillance and the reorganization of shifts.
The protocol provides that i employers take action to “eliminate or reduce workers’ direct exposure to high or perceived high temperatures” by scheduling breaks or activities on cooler days or times. “Employers – reads the draft – adopt the protocol for adapting the current organizational models to the need to contain the risks deriving from exposure to high temperatures, with a view to full protection of the psychophysical conditions of the workers, as well as to increase the level of awareness, responsibility regarding the risks of high temperatures or perceived as such and regulatory compliance”. This – reads the draft – ”together with the possibility of resorting to agile or remote working, and the social safety nets provided for by legislative decree 81”. There review of work plans provides for: the rescheduling of non-priority activities to be carried out outdoors on days with more favorable weather and climatic conditions; the planning of activities that require greater physical effort during the cooler moments of the day; the alternation of shifts in order to minimize individual exposure to heat or direct sun; work stoppage in extreme cases when the risk is very high; variation of the beginning of the works”. Furthermore, it is necessary to prevent workers from carrying out their work alone, in order to ensure, if necessary, “the immediate activation of assistance”. As for breaks, the availability of “completely shaded or air-conditioned areas” must be ensured, among other things.
In the context of health surveillance – the draft continues – the competent company doctor, “by assessing the health status of workers, can provide indispensable indications to prevent the risk of heat stroke in relation to individual characteristics. The presence of certain diseases such as heart disease, kidney disease, diabetes, obesity – it is in fact underlined – can also drastically reduce the individual’s resistance to exposure to heat which contributes to the increased risk of aggravation of the disease from which one suffers”. Consequently, workers with specific indications in the judgment of suitability “should be employed in lighter activities and with more breaks”. Between individual factors that increase the risk of adverse health effects are indicated over the age (over 65 years) and the presence of chronic pathologies, the assumption of certain drugs and pregnancy.
The government’s goal is to provide ”operating instructions” to manage the risks caused by activities in inappropriate climatic conditions in a “preventive logic and not only on the occasion of the event”. The protocol also includes ‘indoor’ workersfor which it is not possible to combine production with a conditioned ventilation system, from construction sites to meat slaughtering, from industrial bakery to blast furnaces.
A specific chapter is also dedicated to information and training: the company “trains and informs all workers on the risks related to heat, on the prevention measures, on the procedures to follow and on the appropriate behaviors to adopt”. The information should include recommendations regarding preferred clothes to wear and hydration. The employer, it is also indicated, “must deliver work clothes and PPE (when required) suitable for high temperatures”. Surveillance and checks and preventive monitoring of weather conditions are also planned.
“I would like to remind you that in a week the heat will probably be over. In Northern Italy the temperatures have already dropped. If we wait for September for protocols we should probably talk about the cold”, ironized the general secretary of Uil, Pierpaolo Bombardieri. But obviously we are available to discuss – he added – always knowing that the priority interest for us is the protection of the lives of male and female workers. “There is already – he recalled – a rule which provides that at 35 degrees companies can make a request for layoffs. The theme that the presidents of Calabria and Puglia have encountered is that when that temperature arrives who blocks the works? Perhaps it is important to give a homogeneous address “.
“We’re already late, because it’s hot today, another day has gone by and we wouldn’t want it to happen as it has already happened, with people getting sick or even dying. For us – said the secretary of the CGIL, Maurizio Landini – it was necessary to intervene with immediate measures on which there was not even a need to discuss: extending layoffs to all sectors of activity and setting very precise guidelines on what is the level beyond which it is necessary to intervene because there are no conditions to be able to work. Time is wasting. We hope that decisions will be taken tomorrow, because we are intervening late”. Commenting on the protocol being studied by the Ministry Landini to the microphones of Sky, he appears sceptical. “I wouldn’t want it to be such a generic protocol that it doesn’t address the issues. I hope it is not a simple call to see how to deal with the issues. We are already late, we need an intervention that makes the intervention tools immediately available. For everyone, from short-term workers to seasonal workers and in all company sizes,” said the CGIL leader.
The leader of the CISL, Luigi Sbarra he asked to “define the memorandum of understanding between the government and the social partners with a view to strengthening as much as possible the tool of layoffs, for some sectors in particular: construction, agriculture. And there is – underlines Sbarra – the Ryder issue. And then we think that we need to look for forms of solicitation to the business system for personal protective equipment and for a work organization that addresses this issue of heat waves. It means rotating people, engaging smart working where it can be hypothesized and investing immediately and more in health surveillance. Deliver heat-resistant clothing and equipment. And where it is possible to move work performance from the time slots where the heat is felt. I appreciated the Regions that have adopted ad hoc ordinances blocking work activity in the time slot that goes from 12 to 16 “.