Seguridad y salud laboral, seguridad industrial: desafíos de un enfoque de prevención sustentable

This paper comprises a discussion of the concept of “sustainable” prevention in different socio-technical work systems concerned with safety problems for workers on the one hand, and, having an industrial safety preoccupation on the other. The aim is to propose a definition of sustainable safety and to develop prevention approaches that can support it. This purpose is illustrated by two studies, one conducted in Argentina and the other one in France. The first shows a “reactive” approach in relation to critical event occurrence. The second one shows a “proactive” approach in relation to critical event occurrence, which intends to intervene preventively in the future design of the professional situation. Both approaches are necessary and complementary to develop sustainable prevention in the work environment, with the purpose of anticipating risks at the early stages of design, and using accident analysis as feedback for a better design. Nevertheless, sustainable prevention should actually be based on a “proactive” approach, supported by task analysis as a tool to detect and anticipate the risks inherent to a professional situation.