Productive conception of occupational health and safety. A humanized approach

Abstract

Occupational health and safety is a discipline that aims to prevent the occurrence of occupational accidents and illnesses in organizations. However, today, many managers have resisted the full implementation of occupational safety systems, stating that they inflate budgets and limit productive activity due to their normative nature. The objective of this article is to show a productive vision of this discipline with a humanized approach, starting from a description of the general context of occupational health and safety, its origin and evolution in the world, its contribution to the productivity of organizations, an argument for the approach of the human dimensions of the worker in this disciplinary field, the support sciences that make important contributions in this discipline, the presentation of the legal and normative features in Venezuela. The guidelines established in this work are part of the investigative approach that the author advances regarding his doctoral training in the area of management sciences. In this sense, bibliographic reviews, research work, reports from world forums and conventions, consultation of documents from international organizations, among others, referring to the field of occupational safety and health, were carried out, in addition to the collection of information and author's experience throughout his professional career. All this process of investigation in a preliminary way, has released lines of understanding that has allowed to partially reveal the status of what is happening today with this disciplinary field in organizations. As a fundamental principle, it has been possible to understand that work environments endowed with conditions and standards to protect the health of workers, foster a safe work environment, where the physical and mental faculties of workers can be developed with confidence; help to a treatment that favors the consideration of the human dimensions of the employees (emotions, psychological states, needs, social relationships) contribute positively to their work performance. On the other hand, it has been possible to understand through research that occupational health and safety reduces costs by preventing accidents that trigger material and human damage, so that it is possible to understand that it makes important contributions to organizational productivity.