Risk Assessment and Management: easier said, perhaps with too many words, than done - the importance of the culture of prevention

The Occupational Safety & Health (OS&H) Regulations (EEC 89/391 Directive, and the deriving DLgs.81/08 Italian enforcement) introduced the Risk Assessment and Management as a mandatory task for the employer. Nevertheless, often there is some disconnection between both Design vs Risk Analysis, and Execution vs Design. Far from a formal problem, such disconnections often originate from the lack of qualified and widespread professional competence on the basics of the OS&H, involving bureaucratic instead of substantiated approaches (paper safety and all-purpose procedures “pasted” at the last minute). Hence, the importance of a wide dissemination of the Culture of Safety as an essential tool for effective Prevention.