Health surveillance and occupational risk prevention

Abstract

Health surveillance aims at safeguard health and ensure the greatest possible protection against occupational risks and for this reason it should ensure hazard and risk control in the working environment as well as providing an appropriate detection and assessment of specific risks associated to every enterprise. The main changes in the global economy and the reorganization of services and production processes led to many changes in working life conditions and employers responsibilities, bring to the urgent need for the development and adaptation of the equipment and working methods in view of ensuring a proper protection, promotion and management of health, environment and safety issues at the corporate level. Today industrial accidents still affect significant cost in terms of not only economic but also social matters and for this reason we must emphasize the important role of occupational medicine in injury prevention through the protection and promotion of workers' health, the improvement of working and production systems, the encouragement of a "working" culture to improve the health and safety of workers in the broadest sense, both individually and collectively. Therefore, in order to prevent workplace accidents, the occupational physician should develop a methodology taking into account a whole range of factors, including the personal ones, which can be correlated to the risk to be injured planning and enacted effectiveness, efficiency, fairness and ethics interventions. Health surveillance should allow the identification of workers and/or groups of workers with the highest frequency and the greatest risk of injury, in order to direct preventive efforts in the right direction with multidisciplinary interventions through development of full cooperation not only with employers, workers and their representatives but also with other professionals may have been involved. Only through close cooperation and joint efforts of the professionals involved that you will be to reduce the number, severity and, therefore, the weight that workplace accidents have on society today.

East Meets West

“…2130 It dawned on Europe that it was not merely a target, or a contributor due to the growing number of radicalized, marginalized, and poorly integrated Muslims in European societies, but more importantly, it was a quintessential player that needed immediate response in countering and/or battling terrorism and transborder crime. 2131 As a way to respond, there was a change in many policy areas as well as new countermeasures and strategies to impede the increasing security threat of transnational crime and terrorism. 2132 In fact, the development of EU Criminal Law was at its high peak during 2001 to 2004.…”

“…2131 As a way to respond, there was a change in many policy areas as well as new countermeasures and strategies to impede the increasing security threat of transnational crime and terrorism. 2132 In fact, the development of EU Criminal Law was at its high peak during 2001 to 2004. 2133 One could observe at the outset the substantial momentum gained with the nexus between internal and external security resulting in merging of police systems, judicial systems, special forces, and external military action.…”

“…2147 Prior to this, the emergence of terrorism as a priority of the EU was mentioned in the 2003 European Security Strategy but still, implementation among member states has not been impressive. 2148 The Declaration to Combat Terrorism referred to the existing implementation flaws and urged member states to urgently and fully implement the measures on police and judicial cooperation. 2149 It called for new measures that would reinforce operational cooperation and intelligence exchange not only between national authorities but with European bodies such as Europol and Eurojust as well.…”

“…2160 Regarded as the "first and most striking example of extensive judicial cooperation in criminal matters within the EU Third Pillar," the EAW allows arrest warrants in one member state to be recognized and enforced in other EU states. 2161 Thus, it is basically "a judicial decision issued by a member state with a view to the arrest and surrender by another member state of a requested person, for the purposes of conducting a criminal prosecution or executing a custodial sentence or detention order" for a maximum period of at least 12 months or, where a sentence has been passed or a detention order has been made, for sentences of at least four months.. 2162 The purpose of the EAW then is "to simplify and expedite extradition procedures of persons convicted or accused of crimes between the EU member states." 2163 Noticeably, the extradition process, which was traditionally and mainly under executive discretion and subjected to intergovernmental processes, was now made into a purely judicial matter, whereby only the judicial authorities of the member states cooperate.…”

“…2163 Noticeably, the extradition process, which was traditionally and mainly under executive discretion and subjected to intergovernmental processes, was now made into a purely judicial matter, whereby only the judicial authorities of the member states cooperate. 2164 This "judicialization" was necessitated to bring the extradition process within the ambits of mutual recognition and mutual trust. 2165 The EAW is the "first concrete measure implementing the principle of mutual recognition of judicial decisions in European Union Criminal law" and eventually provided the groundwork for other mutual recognition instruments, each setting out the principle that member states must recognize decisions of another member state's criminal authorities as regards a particular nature, subject to a limited number of grounds for refusal, detailed rules on procedures (such as time limits and standard forms), and vague provisions on human rights.…”