In this article we will provide the 5 fundamental rules to make the right choice, based on objective and analytical parameters and not simply on the empathy and trust that the commercial interlocutor or the website transmits to us.

Before starting the analysis of these parameters (to which we will have to give a score) the first question that an Employer or a Manager must ask himself is the following:

Why is it important to choose the RSPP correctly?

After more than 25 years from the release of Legislative Decree 626 (today Legislative Decree 81/08) one thing is certain: the real responsible for safety in the company are the Employer, the Manager and the Supervisor. The Responsibility profile of the RSPP is related to the tasks specifically indicated by the TUSL and for the Employer there is almost always a profile of co-responsibility, linked to the principle of “culpa in eligendo e vigilando”, a principle widely treated by the judgments of the Supreme Court. Translated: even in the event that the error, omission or inexperience is attributable to the company RSPP, the Employer is often called upon to respond jointly and severally (both civilly and criminally) as it is one of his duties to carefully choose his “occupational safety expert” and check his work during the work.

With regard to “the culpa in eligendo” it is in fact worth underlining the fact that in 1994, when the famous Legislative Decree 626 was issued, it was mandatory to communicate to the ASL the name of your RSPP, as well as attach the documentation certifying its preparation. Today this obligation no longer exists and even if many are in favor of simplifying and reducing bureaucratic paperwork (and among them also the writer) it is undeniable that this, in fact, means that the obligation to verify the technical professional suitability of the RSPP falls solely and exclusively on the Employer. Such a priority aspect that the legislator has indicated the appointment of the RSPP among the non-delegable tasks of the Employer (together with the drafting of the DVR).

After this necessary premise, especially for newcomer Employers (ie who have recently opened a business or recently held this role) let’s see in detail what are the essential requirements of the RSPP or ideal consultant.

A tip before starting: prepare an outline with the questions listed below and during the interview or analysis of the estimates, assign a score from 1 to 10 for each of these. In this way you will avoid making a choice based on non-objective parameters (such as the sympathy of the interlocutor).

1. How much does the RSPP service cost?

The cost of an RSPP is quite variable and there is no national tariff. The parameters generally used to define the annual cost are based on the company’s risk class (low, medium or high risk) and the number of employees.

The reason why there is no tariff is related to the fact that the role of RSPP, leaving aside the minimum tasks required by law, is substantially that of a business consultant. It’s like asking what the annual cost of an IT consultant is. It depends on the work it has to do for the company, how it is structured, how many people are able to support its work, what are the expectations, but above all how many days it takes to provide a service in line with the needs and expectations of the customer.

Exact! The cost of an RSPP depends on how concretely and operationally its service is carried out, how many hours or days are dedicated per year to carry out checks, inspections, communications and if these activities are carried out remotely or in the field.

The cost specified in the offer should therefore depend not so much on the simple assumption of the task of company RSPP, but also on the services that are offered and on the number of hours / man or days / man expected throughout the year.

Understanding what are the minimum tasks of the RSPP is simple, just read the content of art. 33 of the TUSL (Consolidated Law on Safety at Work), but knowing instead what activities should or could be delegated to the RSPP requires some in-depth regulatory analysis and above all a global assessment of how your company is structured on this issue.

Tip: we ask that the following aspects be explained in the offer: the tasks required by law, the hours or days / year included in the service, if there is remote assistance, how many inspections are carried out throughout the year, if there is an information service (eg newsletter) to be constantly updated (especially in relation to new legal obligations), etc.

2. What skills should an RSPP have?

To cover the role of RSPP it is sufficient to have a high school diploma and the obtaining of training modules A, B and C for a total minimum of about 60 hours (the total number of hours depends on the ATECO sector of the company for which the role must be held). Many degree courses allow partial exemptions or reductions in the total number of hours; similarly, the assumption of the role of RSPP / employer allows you to follow a shorter and simplified training course. It is therefore clear that the first step is to verify that the future RSPP has the training requirements to hold this position.

However, this is not enough because we also need skills such as:

• A good RSPP must know specifically the risk factors related to the company, knowledge gained through previous experience in the sector. The qualification or the certificate is not enough, a thorough knowledge of all the risk factors potentially present is needed (from fire risk, to seismic risk, from that relating to Covid-19 to ATEX risk). Otherwise, the Employer should directly assume the role of RSPP and make use of specialized consultants from time to time.
• After 25 years of experience in the sector, I realize how essential it is to know laws, judgments of the Court of Cassation, as well as the modus operandi of Supervisory Inspection Bodies and Judges. It is difficult to understand through a CV the experience in the legal field of a candidate, but certainly the importance and duration of previous assignments such as RSPP or equivalent experiences in the security field, are a good business card.
• Managerial. When you hear about Safety Management System (SGS) many think that it is an obligation only for large companies or multinationals, with ISO certifications and complex organizational processes. In reality, this obligation exists for all companies and consists, in fact, in having an organizational chart, in assigning and verifying tasks, roles and responsibilities, in managing all business processes also taking into account security aspects. To do this you need experience, problem solving skills and managerial skills, to avoid unnecessarily burdening the company with procedures, forms and document paperwork.

Tip: take a look at the CV of the future RSPP, evaluate all previous skills and roles. Discard offers that do not specifically indicate who will fill the role of RSPP. Even if you are a small company, discard the offer of your accountant or lawyer. To do this job you need experts in the field of safety at work; often the RSPP seem to offer the same services, but the real difference is seen only when critical issues emerge (accidents, occupational diseases, visits to the Inspection Bodies).

3. What strategies can the RSPP adopt to reduce business costs?

Many times it is believed that the cost of safety in the company is constituted only by the remuneration or compensation of the RSPP or in the case of larger companies by the total cost of the resources committed in the Office of Prevention and Protection (RSPP, ASPP, Technical Secretariat etc).

In reality, the business cost to security depends on many other factors, including indirect security costs that are often not quantified (except in DUVRI for specific tasks). Let’s take some examples:

• How many hours are dedicated by a construction company for the preparation of POS
• For a company that often hosts external companies or suppliers, how many resources are used to verify their technical and professional suitability (ITP) and to prepare the DUVRI
• For small companies that carry out activities with third parties, how many hours are dedicated to the preparation of forms and self-certifications requested by customers.

At best, the employer finds himself paying the cost of a secretary who is always busy filling out security documents.

But are there ways to save time and consequently money? The answer is almost always affirmative, just optimize work, adopt innovative strategies and take advantage of information technology and digitization. To do this, however, it is necessary to fully understand how business processes that have security implications work and how to transform them to make them simpler, more effective and more protective.

If you want to learn more about this, see Digitize your company with Safetyone Click.

Tip: Test your future RSPP. Ask him how he intends to organize work, how to optimize processes, how to automate time-consuming documents and procedures in your company.

4. How long does an RSPP contract last?

The duration of RSPP’s contract is not established by law. Each company or freelancer independently establishes the duration of the contract, the methods of renewal and contractual obligations. It often happens to see RSPP assignments with a minimum duration of three years or contractual obligations that establish the obligation, for the Customer, to communicate with 6 months’ notice the desire to terminate the contract. In these cases, the question that an employer often asks is: if an RSPP offers an inadequate service, for which I am responsible, how can I keep it for three years? If I cancel the contract 6 months in advance, how can I secure a suitable service until the end of the contract? The answer is simple… Just don’t sign such contractual clauses.

No one doubts that in the first year the activity of the RSPP is more demanding (especially if until then the company was not in order) but in our opinion it is more correct to impose an initial cost relating to the first year (to adapt the company to regulatory requirements) specifying in detail which services will be provided and subsequently a maintenance cost for the renewal of the RSPP activity. There must be no contractual obligations, there is only a fiduciary relationship between the parties; If the company wants to interrupt a relationship because it is not satisfied with the service provided, it should be able to send a PEC with 15 days notice and pay only the activity carried out up to that moment.

If a consulting firm is certain of the service it offers, it does not need contractual obligations.

Tip: Sign contracts where there is only tacit renewal (in order to avoid the hassle of having to sign the appointment of the RSPP every year), but with the possibility of terminating the contract early by means of a minimum notice sent by Certified Electronic Mail (PEC).

5. What support should an RSPP provide?

How many times have you called your consultant for an urgent thing at 6.20 pm and listen to his answering machine telling you that the office reopens the next day at 8.30 or an ASL check just when he is unfortunately on vacation. They seem trivial aspects, especially if there has never been an urgency in your company, but in case of need all this becomes fundamental, especially in the event of an accident at work.

It is evident that many characteristics of the ideal RSPP cannot be written on a contract, but many times the good morning is seen from the morning.

Based on my humble opinion, the ideal RSPP or consultant must be judged on the basis of the following parameters:

• Availability and courtesy
• Intellectual honesty
• Availability of a telephone support service
• Immediate availability on site in case of accident or inspections
• Speed of service delivery
• Transversal support on all security issues

With regard to this last aspect, I would like to emphasize that the RSPP cannot be a jack-of-all-trades (even if experience provides valuable help even on issues not of specific competence), but must be able to make use of the support of specialist collaborators in the various sectors of safety at work.

Although I have been doing this job for 25 years, while updating myself continuously, despite having worked as a teacher and consultant in many areas of safety at work, I cannot call myself a safety expert in all areas. Over the years, safety at work has become so complex that it requires the support of specialists in different thematic areas.

A couple of examples: how does the RSPP integrate the DVR regarding seismic risk if it has no expertise as a structural engineer? Or, how does the RSPP manage to integrate the DVR on fire risk if it barely knows the meaning of REI compartmentalization.

Far be it from me to denigrate RSPP and consultants, but we must also be aware that there are no allologists, but companies that have multiple skills within them to concretely evaluate all the risk factors present in a company.

Tip: Ask the potential candidate how they intend to perform their role, what support services they offer, and test them on some specific topics regarding workplace safety. If he can’t give you a real-time answer, ask him if he wants to ask for help from home (in this case from the office)… Based on his answers, you will be able to understand whether you will be able to use integrated advice in the future or whether you will have to pay another consultant for areas that do not fall within his competence.

Conclusions

As we have seen, choosing an RSPP is very complex and time-consuming. We use this short questionnaire to select possible candidates, assign a score from 1 to 10 for each question and make the total sum. If it exceeds the score of 40, it means that you are making the right choice … otherwise keep looking.

It is clear that the questionnaire can be integrated with other questions (e.g. how far the RSPP is from your company) but the important thing is to objectively evaluate all the factors, examining doubts and perplexities on the basis of the solutions proposed by the potential candidate.

I hope this article will have helped you choose your corporate RSPP or security consultant.

If you are still searching, try to find out what score the RSPP service or SV S.R.L.’s occupational safety consultancy service can achieve.

Contact us via the form, online chat or by phone and one of our technicians will be happy to provide you with all the information you need.

L'articolo RSPP: internal, external or RSSP-Employer? proviene da Safetyone.it.

Safety at work is an essential aspect for every business organization and it is no coincidence that the legislator has intervened many times to deal with this matter, making changes and additions from time to time.

Safety at work is currently regulated by a specific decree, also known as TUSL or Testo Unico Sicurezza Lavoro, a text that in 2008 repealed many previous laws concerning safety at work, incorporating and integrating them into a single body of legislation.

Among the main laws repealed are:

• Legislative Decree 626 of 19 September 1994 (often called Law 626) is the law that was issued to implement in Italy eight directives of the European Community, aimed at promoting the health and safety of workers and to prescribe protective measures to be applied in the workplace, in all sectors, public and private. The law was repealed by the TUSL and inserted into Title I thereof.
• Legislative Decree 494 of 14 August 1996 (often referred to as the Construction Sites Directive) is the law transposing a Community directive concerning occupational safety on construction sites. The law was repealed by the TUSL and inserted in Title IV thereof.

Leaving aside the specific legislation of the sector, the following are also of particular importance:

• Article 2087 of the Civil Code, which establishes that “The entrepreneur is required to adopt in the exercise of the company the measures that, according to the particularity of the work, experience and technique, are necessary to protect the physical integrity and moral personality of the workers“.
• Articles 32, 35 and 41 of the Constitution, in which it is emphasized that economic and labor initiatives must take into account the rights of the worker, strictly avoiding to cause damage or harm the safety, dignity and freedom of the latter.
• The Workers’ Statute (art. 9 – Law 300/1970), one of the main regulations of the Italian Republic on labor law, which has the merit of having introduced changes both on the side of improving working conditions and on that of relations between employers and workers.

What is Legislative Decree 81/08 or Consolidated Law on Safety at Work (TUSL)?

Legislative Decree 81/08 or TUSL is a legislative decree published in the Official Gazette on 9 April 2008, consisting of 306 articles and 52 annexes, which today represents the main regulatory reference in the field of health and safety at work in Italy. The Consolidated Law on Safety at Work lists in detail the obligations that the Employer must fulfill to safeguard the safety of workers.

It is based on well-defined principles such as:

• assess the health and safety risks present in the company
• eliminate or reduce these risks, replacing them – if possible – at the source
• limit the use of dangerous substances in the workplace
• carry out periodic health checks of workers
• inform and train workers on safety (e.g. occupational safety courses)
• consult and involve workers’ safety representatives
• plan and implement appropriate security measures
• activate health surveillance, when necessary
• supervise the effective effectiveness and application of these security measures.

The legislation specifies that these obligations “must in no case entail financial burdens for workers“.

Within Title I of Decree 81 08 are defined roles, tasks and responsibilities of the main figures involved in safety at work:

• Employer
• Manager for Safety at Work
• Responsible for Safety at Work
• Head of the Prevention and Protection Service or RSPP
• Competent Doctor
• Prevention and Protection Service Officer or ASPP
• Workers’ Safety Representative or RLS
• Emergency management workers (fire and first aid)
• Workers

When does Legislative Decree 81 08 apply?

Legislative Decree 81/2008, as already indicated, deals with the protection of the health and safety of workers and applies:

• To the person in every aspect: health, safety, dignity, taking into account geographical origin and gender
• At work, in whatever form carried out, in all sectors, both public and private, to which workers are employed.

The TUSL recognizes the principle of effective protection: the right of all those who work in the workplace, whatever the employment relationship or contract.

Whatare the main rules defined by the TUSL?

Making a list of all the measures envisaged and present in Legislative Decree 81/08 is not easy, as it is very articulated.

However, we can mention the main measures (some already reported in the previous paragraphs) applicable to all forms of employment or self-employment.

• Adoption of a safety management system
• Risk analysis, management and reduction
• Identification and appointment of the Prevention and Protection Service
• Drafting of the DVR and specific risk assessments
• Definition of procedures, protocols and instructions to ensure the healthiness of the environment, as well as the health and safety of workers
• Application of health surveillance
• Information and training for workers, supervisors, managers and RLS
• Training for PPE, machines and chemicals.

All this is aimed at reducing accidents and occupational diseases at work.

What specific topics does Law 81 cover?

Legislative Decree 81/2008 imposes on the Employer the obligation to adopt a safety and health management system through:

• identification of risk factors
• the reduction of risk factors and the quantification of residual risk
• the adoption of risk mitigation and management strategies at a technological, organizational and operational level
• monitoring of preventive and protective measures put in place.

Specifically, Legislative Decree 81/2008 currently consists of 14 Titles and 52 Annexes:

• Title I – General provisions
• Title II – Workplaces
• Title III – Use of work equipment and PPE
• Title IV – Temporary or mobile construction sites
• Title V – Safety signs
• Title VI – Manual handling of loads (MMC)
• Title VII – Display screens
• Title VIII – Physical agents – Risks of exposure to noise, vibration, electromagnetic fields (EMF), artificial optical radiation (ROA)
• Title IX – Dangerous substances – Chemical agents, carcinogens and mutagens, asbestos
• Title X – Biological agents
• Title X-bis – Protection against sharp injuries in the hospital and healthcare sector
• Title XI – Explosive atmospheres (ATEX)
• Title XII – Criminal provisions
• Title XIII – Final provisions
• ANNEX I – Serious violations for the purpose of adopting the measure of suspension of business activity
• ANNEX II – Cases in which the employer is allowed to carry out the tasks of prevention and protection of risks directly
• ANNEX 3A – Contents of the health and risk record
• ANNEX 3B – Content and modalities of transmission of information relating to aggregated health and risk data of workers
• ANNEX IV – Workplace requirements
• ANNEX V – Safety requirements for work equipment constructed in the absence of legislative provisions transposing Community product directives … (omitted)
• ANNEX VI – Provisions concerning the use of work equipment
• ANNEX VII – Verification of equipment
• ANNEX VIII – General information concerning special protection
• ANNEX IX – Values of rated operating voltages of electrical machinery and installations
• ANNEX X – List of construction or civil engineering works
• ANNEX XI – List of work involving special risks to the safety and health of workers
• ANNEX XII – Content of the prior notification
• ANNEX XIII – Safety and health requirements for site logistics, for sanitation services available to workers on construction sites, for workplaces on construction sites
• ANNEX XIV – Minimum contents of the training course for coordinators for the design and execution of works
• ANNEX XV – Minimum contents of safety plans at temporary or mobile construction sites
• ANNEX XVI – Dossier with the characteristics of the work
• ANNEX XVII – Technical and professional competence
• ANNEX XVIII – Roads on construction sites, scaffolding and transport of materials
• ANNEX XIX – Safety checks on fixed metal scaffolding
• ANNEX XX – Construction and use of portable ladders – authorization to certification laboratories
• ANNEX XXI – State, Regions and Autonomous Provinces Agreement on training courses for workers working at height
• ANNEX XXII – Minimum contents of the IP.M.U.S.
• ANNEX XXIII – Derogation allowed for wheeled tower bridges
• ANNEX XXIV – General requirements for safety signs
• ANNEX XXV – General requirements for signposts
• ANNEX XXVI – Requirements for the marking of containers and piping
• ANNEX XXVII – Requirements for signs to identify and indicate the location of fire-fighting equipment
• ANNEX XXVIII – Requirements for obstacle warning and route signalling
• ANNEX XXIX – Requirements for light signals
• ANNEX XXX – Requirements for acoustic signals
• ANNEX XXXI – Requirements for verbal communication
• ANNEX XXXII – Requirements for hand signals
• ANNEX XXXIII – Manual handling of loads
• ANNEX XXXIV – Display screens
• ANNEX XXXV – Physical agents
• ANNEX XXXVI – Electromagnetic fields
• ANNEX XXXVII – Optical radiation
• ANNEX XXXVIII – Occupational exposure limit values
• ANNEX XXXIX – Mandatory biological limit values and health surveillance procedures
• ANNEX XL – Prohibitions
• ANNEX XLI – Standardized measurement methods
• ANNEX XLII – List of substances, mixtures and processes
• ANNEX XLIII – Occupational exposure limit values
• ANNEX XLIV – Example list of work activities that may involve the presence of biological agents
• ANNEX XLV – Biohazard signal
• ANNEX XLVI – List of classified biological agents
• ANNEX XLVII – Specifications on containment measures and containment levels
• ANNEX XLVIII – Specifications for industrial processes
• ANNEX XLIX – Allocation of areas where explosive atmospheres may occur
• ANNEX L – Minimum requirements for improving the safety and health protection of workers potentially at risk from explosive atmospheres and criteria for the selection of equipment and protective systems
• ANNEX LI – Warning sign to indicate areas where explosive atmospheres may occur

Risk Assessment Document

One of the most important general measures introduced by Law 626 and now provided for by the TUSL is represented by risk assessment. The law also refers to the particular risks to which workers are exposed, such as the risk of related stress, chemical risk, risk related to the use of the video terminal, etc.

In this regard, the main obligation envisaged by the legislator is the drafting of the DVR (Evaluation Document of the Rischi).

The DVR must contain the following elements:

• The risk assessment report, which indicates the criteria adopted to establish the protection and prevention measures implemented (for example in fire prevention) and the protective devices used
• The program of procedures to be adopted to improve the security levels of company structures and infrastructures
• The identification of tasks to which specific risks are related, linked for example to the use of plants or particular equipment.

The responsibility for drafting the DVR lies with the employer, who generally prepares it with the support of the internal RSPP or an external RSPP and with the advice of experts for specific risk assessments.

The DVR is also inspected by the Competent Doctor (and integrated where necessary) and by the RLS.

Conclusions

Failure by the employer to comply with legal obligations results in administrative and in many cases criminal sanctions.

Do you need to carry out the risk assessment in your company or update it? Do you need to appoint an external RSPP? Do you need advice on safety at work?

SV Srl, thanks to its twenty years of experience in the sector, is able to provide you with a fast, economical and professional service.

L'articolo Safety at Work: Legal Regulations and Consolidated Safety Act proviene da Safetyone.it.