Health and safety are essential elements for life. In the workplace, it is necessary, beyond knowing the existing regulations, to inculcate workers and employers of the importance of understanding the basic concepts intrinsic to occupational safety and the management of risk prevention.

Occupational safety involves the prevention of accidents. The occupational safety programs or plans are aimed at the prevention and management of occupational hazards, through the application of safety standards.

The management of occupational risk prevention is the set of activities and measures adopted in all the phases of activity of the company in order to guarantee the safety and health of workers. The objective of prevention management is the partial or total elimination of the risks inherent in the productive activity.

The prevention must be born at the same time as the design of the business project and extend throughout the life and activity of the company. The entrepreneur at the beginning of the productive activity must conduct a thorough investigation and evaluation of the inherent risks to carry out the plan of prevention of occupational risks.

The initial steps to perform management of occupational risk prevention are the following:

1. Identify and classify the work activities: it is a question of grouping all the activities that are developed in the company to identify the functions and activities of each of them in a precise way.
2. Risk analysis: is the identification of the risk associated with the work activity, said specification is made with the information obtained in step one. The objective of this step is to estimate the hazards and risks inherent in the productive activity and to identify the type of risk of the activity, detailing the probability and consequences of occurrence.
3. Risk control plan: it is carried out after evaluating the intrinsic risks in the productive activity, consists in the creation of a plan of concrete preventive actions, including in the same who will be responsible for executing it and when it is foreseen to finalize such actions.
4. Training and information offered to workers: the adequate information to workers about the occupational risks of their position and how to prevent them is very important for compliance with occupational risk management and the efficient prevention of work accidents.In following publications, we will expand the information to perform a risk analysis and plan efficient risk control.

Source: Chiavenato, I. (2007). Human resources management. The human capital of organizations. (8th ed.). Mexico: Editorial Mc. Graw Hill.

Lopez, H. (1999). Industrial Security and environmental protection for small and medium enterprises. (1st ed.). Mexico: Universidad Iberoamericana.

National Institute of Safety and Health at Work in Spain.